Decomposition branching

It would be expected that this in-chain metalation coupled with elimination of lithium hydride would lead to in-chain diene imits which would have even more reactive allylic hydrogens for further metalation-elimination-coupling sequences that would promote thermal decomposition, branching, and ultimately gel formation. 

In natural sources, all elements with an atomic number greater than 83 are radioactive, but most elements are present in very small concentrations. These radionuclides belong to chains of successive decay, and all of the species in one such chain constitute a radioactive family series. Three of these families include all of the natural activities in this region of the periodic chart [1]. The existence of branching decays in each of the three series should be noted. These representations only recognize the most common decomposition elements, but new decomposition branches have been discovered. 

New radicals are introduced by thermolysis of the hydroperoxide by chain-branching decomposition (eq. 4). Radicals are removed from the system by chain-termination reaction(s) (eq. 5). Under steady-state conditions, the production of new radicals is in balance with the rate of radical removal by termination reactions and equation 8 appHes for the scheme of equations 1—5 where r. = rate of new radical introduction (eq. 4). 

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 ... 

AlkyUithium compounds are primarily used as initiators for polymerizations of styrenes and dienes (52). These initiators are too reactive for alkyl methacrylates and vinylpyridines. / -ButyUithium [109-72-8] is used commercially to initiate anionic homopolymerization and copolymerization of butadiene, isoprene, and styrene with linear and branched stmctures. Because of the high degree of association (hexameric), -butyIUthium-initiated polymerizations are often effected at elevated temperatures (>50° C) to increase the rate of initiation relative to propagation and thus to obtain polymers with narrower molecular weight distributions (53). Hydrocarbon solutions of this initiator are quite stable at room temperature for extended periods of time the rate of decomposition per month is 0.06% at 20°C (39). 

Thermal, Thermooxidative, and Photooxidative Degradation. Polymers of a-olefins have at least one tertiary C-H bond in each monomer unit of polymer chains. As a result, these polymers are susceptible to both thermal and thermooxidative degradation. Reactivity in degradation reactions is especially significant in the case of polyolefins with branched alkyl side groups. For example, thermal decomposition of... 

Chemical Properties. Diacyl peroxides (20) decompose when heated or photoly2ed (<300 mm). Although photolytic decompositions generally produce free radicals (198), thermal decompositions can produce nonradical and radical iatermediates, depending on diacyl peroxide stmcture. Symmetrical aUphatic diacyl peroxides of certain stmctures, ie, diacyl peroxides (20, = alkyl) without a-branches or with a mono-cx-methyl... 

The ultraphosphates are situated between P O q and the metaphosphates. These comparatively Htde-known, highly cross-linked polymers contain at least some of the phosphoms atoms as triply coimected branching points. This stmctural feature is quite unstable toward hydrolysis. Ultraphosphates undergo rapid decomposition upon dissolution. In amorphous ultraphosphates, the cross-linking is presumably scattered randomly throughout the stmctural matrix in contrast, crystalline ultraphosphates have a regular pattern. 

Alkyl boric acid esters derived from straight-chain alcohols and aryl boric acid esters are stable to relatively high temperatures. Methyl borate is stable to 470°C (11). Trialkoxyboranes from branched-chain alcohols are much less stable, and boranes from tertiary alcohols can even decompose at 100°C (12). Decomposition of branched-chain esters leads to mixtures of olefins, alcohols, and other derivatives. 

G-20 Dicarboxylic Acids. These acids have been prepared from cyclohexanone via conversion to cyclohexanone peroxide foUowed by decomposition by ferrous ions in the presence of butadiene (84—87). Okamura Oil Mill (Japan) produces a series of commercial acids based on a modification of this reaction. For example, Okamura s modifications of the reaction results in the foUowing composition of the reaction product C-16 (Linear) 4—9%, C-16 (branched) 2—4%, C-20 (linear) 35—52%, and C-20 (branched) 30—40%. Unsaturated methyl esters are first formed that are hydrogenated and then hydrolyzed to obtain the mixed acids. Relatively pure fractions of C-16 and C-20, both linear and branched, are obtained after... 

Lipson (1943, 1944), who had examined a copper-nickeMron ternary alloy. A few years ago, on an occasion in honour of Mats Hillert, Cahn (1991) mapped out in masterly fashion the history of the spinodal concept and its establishment as a widespread alternative mechanism to classical nucleation in phase transformations, specially of the solid-solid variety. An excellent, up-to-date account of the present status of the theory of spinodal decomposition and its relation to experiment and to other branches of physics is by Binder (1991). The Hillert/Cahn/Hilliard theory has also proved particularly useful to modern polymer physicists concerned with structure control in polymer blends, since that theory was first applied to these materials in 1979 (see outline by Kyu 1993). 

R may be a radical formed by the decomposition of an initiator or a growing radical chain. Similarly, grafting by the chain-transfer mechanism occurs when the branched part consists of another monomer. Since cellulose is a poor transfer agent [8], the efficiency of grafting is quite poor. Incorporation of—SH groups into cellulose enhances the probability of chain transfer. This can be achieved as follows ... 

Gamer and Hailes [462] postulated a chain branching reaction in the decomposition of mercury fulminate, since the values of n( 10—20) were larger than could be considered consistent with power law equation [eqn. (2)] obedience. If the rate of nucleation is constant (0 = 1 for the generation of a new nuclei at a large number of sites, N0) and there is a constant rate of branching of existing nuclei (ftB), the nucleation law is... 

Reference to the decomposition of KMn04 has already been made in the discussion of chain branching reactions (Chap. 3, Sect. 3.2) in which the participation of a highly reactive intermediate was postulated. This work provided a theoretical explanation of the Prout—Tompkins rate equation [eqn. (9)]. Isothermal decomposition in vacuum of freshly prepared crystals at 473—498 K gives symmetrical sigmoid a time curves which are described by the expression... 

The kinetics and mechanism of vacuum decomposition of AgMn04 at 378—393 K [466] are believed to differ from the behaviour of KMn04 in that the effective chain branching coefficient diminishes with time and this leads (Chap 3, Sect. 3.2) to the modified form of the Prout—Tompkins equation... 

Fig. 16. Graphical representation of Arrhenius parameters for the low temperature decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (pelleted, orthorhombic, o, and cubic, , forms). Compensation behaviour is observed. Data from Jacobs and Ng [452]. N = nucleation, B = branching, G = growth processes.

Branching. Photochemical decomposition of D6-acetone yields CD3, which can then react with acetone or with an added hydrocarbon 43... 

The branching of the adduct decomposition was studied by measuring the pKa of the mixtures. Thus for pulse radiolysis of N20-saturated methyl phenyl sulfoxide the results yield a p/Ca obs value of 1.50 while the values for methane sulfinic and benzene sulfinic acids are 2.28 and 1.29, respectively. The fraction of each branch can be calculated from the equation,... 

The kinetic form of the decomposition in various solvents indicates competing unimolecular homolysis of the peroxide link (a) and radical induced decomposition (b). Other diacyl peroxides behave similarly, except that, in the case of acetyl peroxide, induced dceomposition is much less important. More highly branched aliphatic or a-phenyl-substituted diacyl peroxides decompose more readily, partly because induced decomposition is more important again and partly because of the occurrence of decomposition involving cleavage of more than one bond (for a mechanistic discussion of these cases, see Walling et al., 1970). 

The reaction with sulfides occurs efficiently only when the resulting carbon-centered radicals are further stabilized by a a-heteroatom. Indeed, (TMSfsSiH can induce the efficient radical chain monoreduction of 1,3-dithiolane, 1,3-dithiane, 1,3-oxathiolane, 1,3-oxathiolanone, and 1,3-thiazolidine derivatives. Three examples are outlined in Reaction (12). The reaction of benzothiazole sulfenamide with (TMS)3SiH, initiated by the decomposition of AIBN at 76 °C, is an efficient chain process producing the corresponding dialkylamine quantitatively. However, the mechanism of this chain reaction is complex as it is also an example of a degenerate-branched chain process. 

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