Everything about Methyl totally explained
In
chemistry, a
methyl group is a
hydrophobic alkyl functional group named after
methane (
4). It has the
formula -
3 and is often abbreviated
-Me. Such
hydrocarbon groups occur in many
organic compounds.
Methyl groups can be incorporated into organic compounds by an
SN2 reaction on
iodomethane, or by the reaction of
methyl lithium or MeMgCl with a carbon atom that's substituted with a
leaving group.
Reactivity
The introduction of methyl groups as substituents into a compound usually increases its lipophilicity and reduces its solubility in water. It should ease its absorption into biological membranes and make its release into aqueous surroundings more difficult. Incorporating a methyl group into a molecule can have any of three effects, each increasing its reactivity (the rate of its
metabolism):
- by oxidizing the methyl group,
- by demethylation (the transfer of the methyl group to another compound), or
- by reduction, reducing the analogue.
The reactivity of a methyl group depends on what it's attached to. When occurring in an
alkane, it's quite unreactive and resists all but the strongest of acids, bases, oxidizing agents, and reducing agents. But in
toluene,
C6H5CH
3, the methyl group is considerably more reactive, due to the electron donating propensity of the ring.
Electrophilic reagents are then able to attack the methyl group. For example, oxidation with
permanganate converts the methyl group to carboxyl (-COOH), to produce
benzoic acid.
Methyl radical
The methyl radical is the substance CH
3 on its own, with an unpaired electron. Though it readily dimerizes to
ethane, it's stable enough (unlike atomic hydrogen) to be observed as a dilute gas. It can be produced by thermal decomposition of certain compounds, especially those with a -N=N- linkage, which lose the extremely stable dinitrogen molecule on heating.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Methyl'.
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