Peroxidation in relation to olefinic structure

Abstract

Abstract The process of autoxidation among olefinic substances comprises two major phenomena, that of the incorporation of molecules of oxygen (peroxidation), and that of secondary change (peroxide breakdown) during which the peroxide groups formed by this incorporation act as oxidizing agents for adjacent unsaturated centers. Interest may, accordingly, be directed towards two quite distinct but composite themes, viz. : (1) the nature of the mechanism by which the oxygen molecules are incorporated, the positions they take up in different kinds of organic molecules, and the effect of their introduction in causing (or not causing) specific types of molecule-linking, and (2) the inherent stability or instability of the peroxide groups in different molecules and its structural cause, the mechanism of breakdown of the peroxidic groups and the way this is influenced by light, heat, or catalytic influences, and finally the manner of utilization of the “active” oxygen given up by the decomposing peroxide groups i...