An analysis of the thermochemistry of the kinetic parameters of the elementary reactions involved in the pyrolysis of pentachloroethane has resolved several disputed, unclarified, or inconsistent aspects of the reaction mechanism. The resulting mechanisms for the inhibited and uninhibited pyrolysis account for all reported experimental findings. On the basis of this interpretation, first experimentally based values have been derived for the following: DH0(CCl3–CHCl2) = 79.0 ± 1.0 kcal/mol, ΔH(CHCl2) = 25.7 ± 1.0 kcal/mol, and E1 = 59.7 ± 1.0 kcal/mol C2HCl5 .
