Tert-butyl Effect
The tert-butyl substituent is very bulky and used in chemistry for kinetic stabilisation together with other bulky groups such as the related trimethylsilyl group. The effect that the t-butyl group exerts on the progress of a chemical reaction is called the tert-butyl effect.
This effect is illustrated in the Diels-Alder reaction below, where the tert-butyl substituent causes a reaction rate acceleration by a factor of 240 compared to hydrogen as the substituent.
Read more about this topic: Butyl
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