THERMAL DECOMPOSITION REACTION IN ETHANOL SOLUTION OF DEUTERATED ACETONE CYCLIC DIPEROXIDE AND ACETONE DIPEROXIDE. SECONDARY INVERSE ISOTOPIC EFFECT

The characterization by mass spectrometry and the kinetic study of the thermal decomposition reaction of deuterated acetone diperoxide (dACDP) was studied in ethanol in the 140-165 degrees C temperature range. The comparison with the non deuterated species (ACDP) was also made. The kinetic behavior observed for both compounds follows a pseudo first order kinetic law up to at least 86% peroxide conversions. It could be observed that under the established experimental conditions, the dACDP decomposes ca. 1.2 times faster than the ACDP. The activation parameters were calculated for both peroxides and allowed to postulate a single process initial step, the unimolecular thermal decomposition through the O-O bond cleavage to form an intermediate biradical. The products of the acetone derived peroxides thermal decomposition support a radical-based decomposition mechanism. The changes in kinetic parameters between dACDP and ACDP were justified attending to differences in ring substituents sizes. A secondary inverse kinetic isotope effect is observed (k(H)/k(D) < 1).