The low selectivity of alkane halogenation severely limits its usefulness to those compounds only having one kind of C-H bonds and/or to the use of bromine, much more selective but a tad expensive.
If the alkane reacts with an excess of halogen, one finds an added problem: the formation of polyhalogenated compounds.
Alkane halogenation is not actually carried out directly with the halogens but with special, solid derivatives, much easier to handle, that release ·Cl or ·Br radicals by means of so-called initiators.
INITIATOR
