Study of the telomerization of ethylene and 1-hexene by butanal through comparative kinetics

The reaction of ethylene and 1-hexene with butanal was studied using tertiary butyl peroxide initiation at 140°C and a hydrostatic pressure in the range of 250–450 kg/cm². Based on calculated values of the rate constant ratios for the addition reaction of the n-C₃H₇O radical to ethylene (k₀ ^e) and 1-hexene (k₀ ^h), we obtained k₀ ^e/k₀ ^h=3.7 as the rate constant of the decarbonylation reaction of this radical (k_d). The partial chain transfer constants were calculated for the ethylene-butanal system as C_n: C₁=1.0±0.16; C₂=1.0±0.14; C₃=0.9±0.23. The results obtained indicate the nucleophilic character of the n-C₃H₇O radical in these reactions.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 6, pp. 1356–1360, June, 1990.