Basic Reaction Mechanism
A solution of sodium in liquid ammonia consists of the electride salt + e−, associated with the intense blue color of these solutions. The solvated electrons add to the aromatic ring to give a radical anion (the arrows depicting the movement of the single electrons should be 'fish-hook' arrows). The added alcohol supplies a proton to the radical anion and also to the penultimate carbanion; for most substrates ammonia is not acidic enough.
Read more about this topic: Birch Reduction
Famous quotes containing the words basic, reaction and/or mechanism:
“Of course I lie to people. But I lie altruistically—for our mutual good. The lie is the basic building block of good manners. That may seem mildly shocking to a moralist—but then what isn’t?”
—Quentin Crisp (b. 1908)
“Sole and self-commanded works,
Fears not undermining days,
Grows by decays,
And, by the famous might that lurks
In reaction and recoil,
Makes flames to freeze, and ice to boil.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The two elements the traveler first captures in the big city are extrahuman architecture and furious rhythm. Geometry and anguish. At first glance, the rhythm may be confused with gaiety, but when you look more closely at the mechanism of social life and the painful slavery of both men and machines, you see that it is nothing but a kind of typical, empty anguish that makes even crime and gangs forgivable means of escape.”
—Federico García Lorca (1898–1936)