Kinetics of the reaction of metal alkyl compounds with alkenes. Part 6.—Aluminium trimethyl

Abstract

The kinetics of the addition reaction of aluminium trimethyl to n-octene-1 have been studied for comparison with those of aluminium triethyl and in order to confirm the details of the mechanism. In both, the reactions are inhibited by association of the alkyl compounds into dimers since only the unassociated species are reactive. The higher degree of association of aluminium trimethyl alone accounts for its lower reactivity and the maximum difference in activation energy between the two reactions (8±6 kJ mol^–1) is similar to that in the strengths of the methyl and ethyl bonds.