The Kharasch addition is an organic reaction and a metal-catalysed free radical addition of CXCl3 compounds (X = Cl, Br, H) to alkenes. The reaction was discovered by Morris S. Kharasch in the 1940s. The basic reaction scheme runs as follows: R2C=CH2 + R'X → R2CX-CH2R': and proceeds through the CXCl2 free radical. Examples of organohalides are carbon tetrachloride and chloroform. The addition is an anti-Markovnikov addition. Early work linked the addition to olefin polymerization and is therefore considered a first step into what was to become atom transfer radical polymerization.