Radical Reduction of Alkyl and Aryl Halides under Mechanochemical Conditions

Herein, we report a novel method for solvent-free reduction of alkyl and aryl halides under mechanochemical conditions. Reduction reactions were performed by using various alkyl and aryl halides in the presence of different radical initiators and hydrogen atom donors at elevated temperatures. Although we think the mechanism for the reaction under mechanochemical conditions is similar to that observed in solution, we observed a few differences. We found that tris(trimethylsilyl)silane-mediated reductions using AIBN as an initiator gave the highest yields. To the best of our knowledge, this reports the first use of mechanochemistry as a benign tool to perform reduction reactions of alkyl and aryl halides.