Abstract Primary and secondary alkylmercury halides react with the salts of secondary nitroalkanes to afford tertiary nitroalkanes, mercury, metal, and halide ion. The reaction is light initiated and is strongly inhibited by radical scavengers. Cyclized products resulted from the reaction of 1-chloromercury-5-hexene establishing the 5-hexene-1-yl radical as an intermediate. A chain mechanism involving radical ions is proposed to account for these ...
