Reaction with dioxygen

For the values of the rate constants of dioxygen reaction with monomers, see Table 4.4. 

The first term on the right-hand side denotes the rate of dioxygen reaction with styrene (see Chapter 4) and the second term is the rate of catalytic free radical generation via the reaction of styrene with dioxygen catalyzed by cobaltous stearate or cobaltous acetylacetonate. The rate constants were found to be ki = 7.45 x 10-6 L mol-1 s-1, k2 = 6.30 x 10 2 L2 mol 2 s 1 (cobaltous acetylacetonate), and k2 = 0.31L2 mol-2 s 2 (cobaltous stearate) (T = 388 K, solvent = PhCl [169]). The mechanism with intermediate complex formation was proposed. 

The result of these kinetic barriers to dioxygen reactions with most organic molecules is that uncatalyzed reactions of this type are usually quite slow. An exception to this rule is an oxidation pathway known as free-radical autoxida-tion. 

With higher alkenes, three kinds of products, namely alkenyl acetates, allylic acetates and dioxygenated products are obtained[142]. The reaction of propylene gives two propenyl acetates (119 and 120) and allyl acetate (121) by the nucleophilic substitution and allylic oxidation. The chemoselective formation of allyl acetate takes place by the gas-phase reaction with the supported Pd(II) and Cu(II) catalyst. Allyl acetate (121) is produced commercially by this method[143]. Methallyl acetate (122) and 2-methylene-1,3-diacetoxypropane (123) are obtained in good yields by the gas-phase oxidation of isobutylene with the supported Pd catalyst[144]. 

For polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), rate constants were highly dependent on the number of chlorine atoms, and calculated atmospheric lifetimes varied from 2 d for 3-chlorobiphenyl to 34 d for 236-25 pentachlorobiphenyl (Anderson and Hites 1996). It was estimated that loss by hydroxy-lation in the atmosphere was a primary process for the removal of PCBs from the environment. It was later shown that the products were chlorinated benzoic acids produced by initial reaction with a hydroxyl radical at the 1-position followed by transannular dioxygenation at the 2- and 5-positions followed by ring fission (Brubaker and Hites 1998). Reactions of hydroxyl radicals with polychlorinated dibenzo[l,4]dioxins and dibenzofurans also play an important role for their removal from the atmosphere (Brubaker and Hites 1997). The gas phase and the particulate phase are in equilibrium, and the results show that gas-phase reactions with hydroxyl radicals are important for the... 

Finally, it should be noted that there are a large number of irreversible H(G) dioxygen complexes (see Refs. 1, 77) which undergo a whole range of oxidative reactions with a variety of substrates. For instance, M(Ph3P)4, where M = Ni, Pd, Pt, react with O2 in solution as follows (194). 

---