RADICAL PROCESSES IN LIPIDS. A LASER PHOTOLYSIS STUDY OF t-BUTOXY RADICAL REACTIVITY TOWARD FATTY ACIDS

Laser photolysis techniques have been used to measure the reactivity of t-butoxy radical (t-BuO) toward various fatty acids. Eight compounds varying both in number and in the configuration of olefinic bonds were examined. It has been found that the rate constant for hydrogen abstraction from these compounds by t-BuO may be related to the number of secondary, allylic, and doubly allylic hydrogens in each molecule by the equation: k_r= 0.072H_sec] + 0.518H_allylic] + 2.716H_{doubly allylic}] x 10⁶M^-1 s^-1.