The kinetics of solvolysis of various dialkyl sydnones: 3- tert -butyl-4-methyl, 3- n -propyl-4-ethyl, 3-ethyl-4-methyl, 3-isopropyl-4-ethyl, 3- n -propyl-4-methyl, and 3- n -propyl-4- n -butyl sydnone, have been studied spectrophotometrically as a function of HCl and NaOH concentrations, pH, and temperature. The reactivity on acid-catalyzed solvolysis decreased in the order cited with only the first compound exhibiting pH-independent solvolysis and high reactivity, about 600 times that of the others. The reactivities of the remainder were only over a threefold range. The order of reactivity tended to reverse on alkaline solvolysis within a similar range, where 3-ethyl-4-methylsydnone was 1.7 times more reactive than the equally reactive 3- n -propyl-4-ethyl, 3- n -propyl-4-methyl, and 3-isopropyl-4-ethyl sydnones. The 3- n -propyl-4- n -butylsydnone was half as reactive as this group, whereas the 3- tert -butyl-4-methylsydnone was one quarter as reactive. The presence of a-hydrogens on the alkyl substituted sydnones tends to stabilize such structures against hydrogen ion and water attack. This can be explained by postulating extended equilibria among tautomeric structures which decrease the effective concentration of the reactive intermediate. The 3-benzylsydnone demonstrates a reactivity to hydroxyl ion attack equivalent to the more reactive furfuryl sydnone where the electron-attracting powers of the rings are not completely inhibited by the intervening methylene groups. The acid-catalyzed solvolysis of 3-benzylsydnone is of the order of magnitude of other 3-alkyl sydnones with α-hydrogens. The observed second-order dependency of reactivity on hydrogen ion concentration may be assigned to the de-localization of the charge of the singly protonated species, due to the probability of many mesomeric forms with the benzyl substituent.