Effect of high pressure on the rate constant of the Diels-Alder reaction between furan and maleic anhydride

The effect of high pressure (up to 700 MPa) on the rate of the Diels-Alder reaction between furan and maleic anhydride has been investigated in deuterated acetone at 20C. The volume effect of the reaction at atmospheric pressure is found to be V₀=–28.0 cm³/mole. The rate constants for the formation, decomposition and isomerization of the products have been found by numerical integration. The volume of activation V in the pressure range studied has been determined from the observed dependence of log k upon P by spline approximation and was found to be –30.5 cm³/mole at atmospheric pressure, close to the volume change in the reaction, which is consistent with the assumption of a conjugated cyclic transition state.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 3, pp. 525–529, March, 1990.