Abstract
ATKINSON1 has accounted for the products of the mercury photosensitized decomposition of tetrafluoroethylene by supposing that the excited mercury atoms (Hg 3P1) are able to decompose tetrafluoroethylene to give two difluoromethylene radicals. This requires that the dissociation energy of the carbon–carbon bond in tetrafluoroethylene is equal to, or less than, 112 kcal./mole. Since this value is significantly smaller than the lower (125–30 kcal./mole)2 of many values suggested for the dissociation energy of the carbon–carbon bond in ethylene, it is of some interest to obtain independent estimates of the heat of formation of the difluoromethylene radical.
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