Abstract
THE frequency factors and activation energies for reactions in the polymerization of styrene and vinyl acetate have been determined in these Laboratories1. By combining the values for chain propagation with the results of Lewis, Mayo, Walling and their collaborators2, activation energies and frequency factors can be calculated for a number of transfer and propagation reactions of the styryl radical. The accompanying diagram is a plot of E against log10 A for the twenty-nine reactions. It will be seen that the frequency factors are in general low, the mean value of log10 A being 7·4, instead of the normal value c. 12. As Gregg and Mayo2 point out, there is, however, a tendency for reactions with high activation energies to have higher frequency factors.
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References
Bamford and Dewar, Proc. Roy. Soc., A, 192, 309 (1948). Unpublished work by Mr. G. Dixon-Lewis.
Lewis, Walling, Cummings, Briggs and Mayo, J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 70, 1519 (1948). Gregg and Mayo, Faraday Society Discussion on the Labi'e Molecule (1947).
Steacie, Faraday Society Discussion on the Labile Molecule (1947).
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BAMFORD, C., DEWAR, M. Frequency Factors in Radical Reactions. Nature 163, 256 (1949). https://doi.org/10.1038/163256a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/163256a0
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