Peroxy radicals reactivities

It was again observed that rearrangement pathways comprise a substantial portion of the oxidation routes for alkylated aromatics.Since this phenomenon is mainly due to peroxy radical reactivity rather than to identity of the parent compound, it is clear that comparable rearrangements would be factors for PAHs, as well as for nitrogen-, oxygen-, and sulfur-containing heteroaromatic rings and their alkylated derivatives. 

Antioxidants markedly retard the rate of autoxidation throughout the useful life of the polymer. Chain-terminating antioxidants have a reactive —NH or —OH functional group and include compounds such as secondary aryl amines or hindered phenols. They function by transfer of hydrogen to free radicals, principally to peroxy radicals. Butylated hydroxytoluene is a widely used example. 

Oxidation begins with the breakdown of hydroperoxides and the formation of free radicals. These reactive peroxy radicals initiate a chain reaction that propagates the breakdown of hydroperoxides into aldehydes (qv), ketones (qv), alcohols, and hydrocarbons (qv). These breakdown products make an oxidized product organoleptically unacceptable. Antioxidants work by donating a hydrogen atom to the reactive peroxide radical, ending the chain reaction (17). 

Under these conditions, a component with a low rate constant for propagation for peroxy radicals may be cooxidized at a higher relative rate because a larger fraction of the propagation steps is carried out by the more reactive (less selective) alkoxy and hydroxy radicals produced in reaction 4. 

Separate experiments in which tert.-butoxy radicals were produced thermally in benzene from di-tert.-butyl peroxyoxalate failed to reveal any direct reaction of these radicals with amine II. Even at higher temperatures (A/ 150°C, dichlorobenzene, +00+ decomposition), the +0 radicals attacked neither amine II nor nitroxide I. The earlier described experiments of ketone photooxidation showed additionally that amine II displays no specially marked reactivity towards peroxy radicals. 

Simulation programs for the ESR line shapes of peroxy radicals for specific models of dynamics have been developed for the study of oxidative degradation of polymers due to ionizing radiation [66]. The motional mechanism of the peroxy radicals, ROO, was deduced by simulation of the temperature dependence of the spectra, and a correlation between dynamics and reactivity has been established. In general, peroxy radicals at the chain ends are less stable and more reactive. This approach has been extended to protiated polymers, for instance polyethylene and polypropylene (PP) [67],... 

The initial product of the inhibition step is not known in this case and may be a molecular complex.8 The direct reaction of the ethane with the peroxy radical is an example of a covalent compound giving a reaction resembling that of a related free radical. The molecular weight determination by Gomberg was therefore a necessary part of the proof that he was dealing with radicals and not merely an unusually reactive hydrocarbon. The presence of free radicals has since been confirmed by measurements of the paramagnetic susceptibility and the paramagnetic resonance absorption.9-10 The latter evidence also rules out an alter-... 

Other important aromatic amines such as chlorpromazine (26) have also been subjected to oxidation studies using oxidants produced by pulse radiolysis. Typical among these is the use of chloroalkylperoxyl radicals formed by pulse radiolysis in a variety of solvents. These oxidants yield the corresponding radical cation. The rate constants (Table 3) for these reactions were determined42. Other studies have determined the reactivity between chlorpromazine and BiV- in H2O/DMSO in varying proportions. The rate constants for the formation of the radical cation of chlorpromazine were similar in value to those obtained from the peroxy radical reactions4. 

Vanoppen et al. [88] have reported the gas-phase oxidation of zeolite-ad-sorbed cyclohexane to form cyclohexanone. The reaction rate was observed to increase in the order NaY < BaY < SrY < CaY. This was attributed to a Frei-type thermal oxidation process. The possibility that a free-radical chain process initiated by the intrazeolite formation of a peroxy radical, however, could not be completely excluded. On the other hand, liquid-phase auto-oxidation of cyclohexane, although still exhibiting the same rate effect (i.e., NaY < BaY < SrY < CaY), has been attributed to a homolytic peroxide decomposition mechanism [89]. Evidence for the homolytic peroxide decomposition mechanism was provided in part by the observation that the addition of cyclohexyl hydroperoxide dramatically enhanced the intrazeolite oxidation. In addition, decomposition of cyclohexyl hydroperoxide followed the same reactivity pattern (i.e., NaY < BaY... 

As shown, peroxy radical chemistry plays a substantial role in low-temperature combustion as opposed to the alkoxy radical chemistry of high-temperature combustion. Thus, the peroxy radicals constitute an important class of reactive intermediates with significant implications for low temperature combustion and atmospheric reactions. 

The chemistry of the troposphere (the layer of the atmosphere closest to earth s surface) overlaps with low-temperature combustion, as one would expect for an oxidative environment. Consequently, the concerns of atmospheric chemistry overlap with those of combustion chemistry. Monks recently published a tutorial review of radical chemistry in the troposphere. Atkinson and Arey have compiled a thorough database of atmospheric degradation reactions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), while Atkinson et al. have generated a database of reactions for several reactive species with atmospheric implications. Also, Sandler et al. have contributed to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory s extensive database of chemical kinetic and photochemical data. These reviews address reactions with atmospheric implications in far greater detail than is possible for the scope of this review. For our purposes, we can extend the low-temperature combustion reactions [Equations (4) and (5)], whereby peroxy radicals would have the capacity to react with prevalent atmospheric radicals, such as HO2, NO, NO2, and NO3 (the latter three of which are collectively known as NOy) ... 

The simplest hydrocarbon, methane, has posed a wealth of challenges to experimentalists and theoreticians seeking to discern its combustion mechanism. Methane s reactions have been explored in a wide variety of contexts over the past several decades. We have discussed these briefly the interested reader is referred to the reviews cited in our previous discussion for further details. Due to the scope of this review, we are primarily interested in these reactions insofar as they provide useful benchmarks for the reactions of larger alkylperoxy (RO2 ) and alkoxy (RO ) systems. With respect to the reactive intermediates present in methane combustion and their implications for larger systems, Lightfoot has published a review on the atmospheric role of these species, while Wallington et al. have provided multiple overviews of gas-phase peroxy radical chemistry. Lesclaux has provided multiple reviews of developments in peroxy radical chemistry. Batt published a review of the gas-phase decomposition reactions available to the alkoxy radicals. ... 

While most studies have focused on the pyrolytic unimolecular decomposition of these monoheteroaromatic compounds, our group has explored their oxidative decomposition. As with benzene, where phenylperoxy radical plays a major role in dictating oxidation pathways, we hypothesize that the peroxy radicals derived from heteroaromatic rings are reactive species of considerable interest for combustion and atmospheric reactions. 

The formation of oxidation products a-c in a range of G values (0.7-3.8) during the 7-R of S in 02-saturated DCE suggests that a-c would be produced from complicated reactions of peroxy radicals with S (Table 5). On the other hand, the regioselective formation of 3d with large G values (2.6-3.0) in oxidation of 3 with O2 is explained by spin localization on the p-olefinic carbon because of the contribution of (B) in 3. The results of products analyses are essentially identical with prediction based on k and ko for S measured with PR. It should be emphasized that the reactivities of c-t unimolecular isomerization and reaction of S with O2 can be understood in terms of charge-spin separation induced by p-MeO. 

VII. Reactivities of Peroxy Radicals Toward Hydrocarbons and Hydroperoxides... 

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