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Hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) is a class of proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) reactions. HAT is defined as a PCET where the proton and the electron originate from the same orbital, and travel together to the destination. PCET is thus a term that encompasses all HAT reactions. The reverse reaction of HAT is hydrogen atom abstraction.

In organic synthesis, HAT is often useful for trapping radical products. A popular H• donor is tributyltin hydride, which generates tributyltin radical after transferring an H• (see equation below).

R• + H-SnBu3 -> R-H + •SnBu3

This reaction is driven by the formation of the stronger R-H bond relative to the Sn-H bond. For example, if R is a carbon, the resultant carbon-hydrogen bond is 88-110 kcal/mol, more stable than the Sn-H bond that was broken (S