Acyloxy radicals from diacyl peroxides

The extent of decarboxylation primarily depends on temperature, pressure, and the stabihty of the incipient R- radical. The more stable the R- radical, the faster and more extensive the decarboxylation. With many diacyl peroxides, decarboxylation and oxygen—oxygen bond scission occur simultaneously in the transition state. Acyloxy radicals are known to form initially only from diacetyl peroxide and from dibenzoyl peroxides (because of the relative instabihties of the corresponding methyl and phenyl radicals formed upon decarboxylation). Diacyl peroxides derived from non-a-branched carboxyhc acids, eg, dilauroyl peroxide, may also initially form acyloxy radical pairs however, these acyloxy radicals decarboxylate very rapidly and the initiating radicals are expected to be alkyl radicals. Diacyl peroxides are also susceptible to induced decompositions ... 

In general, aliphatic diacyl peroxide initiators should be considered as sources of alkyl, rather than of aeyloxy radicals. With few exceptions, aliphatic acyloxy radicals have a transient existence at best. For certain diacyl peroxides (36) where R is a secondary or tertiary alkyl group there is controversy as to whether loss of carbon dioxide occurs in concert with 0-0 bond cleavage. Thus, ester end groups observed in polymers prepared with aliphatic diaeyl peroxides are unlikely to arise directly from initiation, but rather from transfer to initiator (see 3.3,2.1.4),... 

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