Peroxides homolysis

Obviously, this product distribution reflects a free radical reaction in which Mn intervenes as a Haber-Weiss catalyst for peroxide homolysis ... 

Turovsky, A. A. Bazylyak, L. I. Kytsya, A. R. Turovsky, N. A. Zaikov, G. E. In Non-Valency Interaction in Organic Peroxides Homolysis Reactions, Nova Science Publishers New York, 2012 250 pp. 

Of course, this new quandary is based on straight line mentality. Ideally a plot of log k vs. solvent "polarity should curve upwards and have as slope assymptotically approaching zero at the low end of the scale. If we really understood the effect of medium on peroxide homolysis the correct solvent parameter probably would be obvious. 

In discussing mechanism (5.F) in the last chapter we noted that the entrapment of two reactive species in the same solvent cage may be considered a transition state in the reaction of these species. Reactions such as the thermal homolysis of peroxides and azo compounds result in the formation of two radicals already trapped together in a cage that promotes direct recombination, as with the 2-cyanopropyl radicals from 2,2 -azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN),... 

Chemical Properties. Acychc di-Z f/-alkyl peroxides efftciendy generate alkoxy free radicals by thermal or photolytic homolysis. 

Thermal decomposition of dihydroperoxides results in initial homolysis of an oxygen—oxygen bond foUowed by carbon—oxygen and carbon—carbon bond cleavages to yield mixtures of carbonyl compounds (ketones, aldehydes), esters, carboxyHc acids, hydrocarbons, and hydrogen peroxide. 

Table 15 shows that peroxyester stabiUty decreases for the alkyl groups in the following order tert — butyl > tert — amyl > tert — octyl > tert — cumyl > 3 — hydroxy — 1,1 dimethylbutyl. The order of activity of the R group in peroxyesters is also observed in other alkyl peroxides. Peroxyesters derived from benzoic acids and non-abranched carboxyUc acids are more stable than those derived from mono-a-branched acids which are more stable than those derived from di-a-branched acids (19,21,168). The size of the a-branch also is important, since steric acceleration of homolysis occurs with increasing branch size (236). Suitably substituted peroxyesters show rate enhancements because of anchimeric assistance (168,213,237). 

The amount of induced decomposition that occurs depends on the concentration and reactivity of the radical intermediates and the susceptibility of the substrate to radical attack. The radical X- may be formed from the peroxide, but it can also be derived from subsequent reactions with the solvent. For this reason, both the structure of the peroxide and the nature of the reaction medium are important in determining the extent of induced decomposition, relative to unimolecular homolysis. 

The formation of the complex is expected to decrease the free energy of activation for the homolysis of the peroxide bond, and the decomposition of TBHP would occur at a lower temperature. It was further observed that at a higher concentration of mineral acid, the decomposition of TBHP occurs via an ionic pathway, as reported by Turner [27]. 

For diaroy I peroxides (36, R ar 11. m- and / -electron withdrawing substituents retard the rate of decomposition while m- and/ -clcctron donating and all o-substituents enhance decomposition rates. The o-substiluent effect has been attributed to the sensitivity of homolysis to steric factors. 

Ideally all reactions should result from unimolecular homolysis of the relatively weak 0-0 bond. However, unimolecular rearrangement and various forms of induced and non-radical decomposition complicate the kinetics of radical generation and reduce the initiator efficiency.46 Peroxide decomposition induced by radicals and redox chemistry is covered in Sections 3.3.2.1.4 and 3.3.2.1.5 respectively. 

Oxygen-centered radicals are arguably the most common of initiator-derived species generated during initiation of polymerization and many studies have dealt with these species. The class includes alkoxy, hydroxy and aeyloxy radicals and tire sulfate radical anion (formed as primary radicals by homolysis of peroxides or hyponitrites) and alkylperoxy radicals (produced by the interaction of carbon-centered radicals with molecular oxygen or by the induced decomposition of hydroperoxides). 

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 easy homolysis of C-Br bond in CBr4 allowed us to conduct the radical chain reaction of CBr4 with 3,3,3-trifluoropropene under common conditions (benzoyl peroxide), although in this case the strong electrophiles are used as reagents (an addend and a monomer), i.e. a very unfavorable combination of polar factors for proceeding the process takes place (ref. 6). 

Several carbonyl-containing peroxide additives have been shown to increase the initial rate of the nonoxidative photo-dehydrochlorination of PVC (54). In studies with polymeric ketones unrelated structurally to PVC, the excited singlet and triplet states of the carbonyl groups in these polymers were found to sensitize 0-0 homolysis at rates approaching diffusion control (55). Similar reactions may well occur in oxidized vinyl chloride polymers. 

Radical Polymerization. Radical chain polymerization involves initiation, propagation, and termination. Consider the polymerization of ethylene. Initiation typically involves thermal homolysis of an initiator such as benzoyl peroxide... 

The absorption of photon causes homolysis of peroxide with the generation of free radicals [205-208] ... 

It is seen that the values of kd are very close. Hence, the reaction of POOH with the C—H bond is not the main initiation reaction. If the breakdown is a monomolecular process, the rate of O—O bond homolysis in polymer must be close to that in the gas phase. 2,2-Dimethylethyl hydroperoxide breaks down in the gas phase with a rate constant of 1.6 x 1013 exp(— 158/i 7) = 5.3 x 10 x s 1 (398 K, [4]), that is, by four orders of magnitude more slowly than in polymer. Hence, the decomposition reactions in the polymers are much faster than the monomolecular homolysis of peroxide. Decomposition reactions may be of three types (see Chapter 4), such as the reaction of POOH with a double bond... 

The generation of the benzoyloxyl radical relies on the thermal or photoinitiated decomposition [reaction (49)] of dibenzoyl peroxide (DBPO). An early study (Janzen et al., 1972) showed that the kinetics of the thermal reaction between DBPO and PBN in benzene to give PhCOO-PBN" could be followed by monitoring [PhCOO-PBN ] from 38°C and upwards. The reaction was first order in [DBPO] and zero order in [PBN], and the rate constants evaluated for the homolysis of the 0—0 bond in DBPO (k = 3.7 x 10-8 s-1 at 38°C) agreed well with those of other studies at higher temperatures. Thus in benzene the homolytic decomposition mechanism of DBPO seems to prevail. 

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