The kinetics of the thermal gas-phase reaction Br2 + C6F5I → BrI + C6F5Br. An attempt to determine the bond dissociation energy D(C6F5-I)

The kinetics of the thermal bromination reaction have been studied in the range of 261°–391°C. The observed rate law is compatible with initiation by the step for which we obtain where Θ = 2.303RT cal/mol. Using the above value of E₆, we have This result disagrees with values of D(C₆F₅-I) obtained in other ways and we conclude that reaction (3) probably does not involve initiation by reaction (6). Instead, initiation may involve an addition of Br to the ring in C₆F₅I followed by decomposition of the adduct to give C₆F₅Br. If correct, this implies that the Arrhenius parameters above refer to the addition reaction rather than to reaction (6).