Kinetics of the thermal gas-phase decomposition of 1,2-epoxybutane

Abstract

The kinetics of the gas-phase decomposition of 1,2-epoxybutane have been studied over the temperature range 674–730 K at pressures between 5 and 70 Torr. Isomerization to butanal, butan-2-one, cis- and trans-methyl propenyl ether, and cis- and trans-but-2-en-1-ol accounts for ∼70 % of the primary reaction products and occurs by first-order, homogeneous, non-radical processes. k_butanal/s^–1= 10^13.95±0.41 exp(–238.4 ± 5.5 kJ mol^–1RT), k_butan-2-one/s^–1= 10^14.12±0.78 exp(–248.7 ± 10.5 kJ mol^–1RT), k_{cis+trans-methyl propenyl ether}/s^–1= 10^12.21±0.75 exp(–227.1 ± 10.0 kJ mol^–1RT), k_{cis+trans-but-2-en-1-ol}/s^–1= 10^10.89±3.12 exp(–214.0 ± 41.8 kJ mol^–1RT).