Reactions of Free Radicals : Elimination Reactions

The use of thionoesters, such as a xanthates, as radical generating functions and these groups may also serve as excellent radical leaving groups. This property has been put to use in the eliminative reduction of vicinal-glycols to alkenes, as illustrated by the following example. Once again, the tolerance of radical reactions for a variety of functional groups is demonstrated.
An industrial preparation of vinyl chloride from 1,2-dichloroethane, made by adding chlorine to ethylene, proceeds by elimination of a chlorine atom from an intermediate carbon radical. The isomer 1,1-dichloroethane does not undergo an equivalent radical chain elimination.