The Reaction of Methyl Radicals with Butadiene and Isoprene

Abstract

An investigation of the reaction of methyl radicals with butadiene and isoprene has been made by photolyzing admixed mercury dimethyl. In each case the amount of methane formed by the reactionCH3+RH→CH4+Rwas small relative to the accompanying polymerization. For butadiene the activation energy of methane formation is 6.5 kcal. This value is, however, rather unreliable on account of the small amount of methane formation.