Kinetics of the thermal decomposition of diazirines: 3-chloro-3-methoxydiazirine

Abstract

The thermal decomposition of 3-chloro-3-methoxydiazirine has been investigated. It decomposes unimolecularly both in solution and in the gas phase with k= 10^13.52 exp(–101.1/RT) s^–1 in methanol and k= 10^13.06 exp (–101.5) s^–1 in the gas phase. A direct two-bond cleavage to nitrogen and methoxychlorocarbene is proposed. The influence of substituents on the partition between one-bond and two-bond rupture of the diazirine ring is discussed.