Radiolysis of liquid mercury di-n-hexyl

Abstract

The radiolysis of liquid mercury di-n-hexyl gives mercury, hexane, hexene and dodecane as the principal products, indicating that only mercury—carbon bond cleavage takes place. The ratio of disproportionation to combination of n-hexyl radicals in this environment is 0.73. A study of the effect of varying the dose-rate on the system indicates that the chain reaction C₆H₁₃˙+Hg(C₆H₁₃˙)₂→C₆H₁₄+C₆H₁₂+Hg+C₆H₁₃˙ takes place. The rate constant for this reaction is estimated as 38.1. mole^–1 sec^–1 and is low because of a low pre-exponential factor.