Thermal Decomposition of 1-Cyclohexyl-1-methylethyl Peroxypivalate

The thermal decomposition of a novel peroxyester, 1-cyclohexyl-1-methylethyl peroxypivalate 1a in cumene has been studied using the radical trapping technique employing 1,1,3,3-tetramethyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-isoindol-2-yloxyl T, a stable aminoxyl radical, as the scavenger. Comparable amounts of cyclohexyl radicals and t-butyl radicals were generated from the thermolysis of 1a. Thus, 1-cyclohexyl-1-methylethoxyl radicals 2a undergo β-scission exclusively. The efficiency of radical generation for 1a was determined to be 0.56, which is slightly higher than that for t-butyl peroxypivalate (0.53).