Reactions of Aroyl Peroxides. II. Substituted Benzoyl Peroxides with Benzene

Abstract

Six symmetrically disubstituted benzoyl peroxides have been reacted with benzene and the nature of the products has been determined. The reactions of the m-methoxy-, p-methoxy-, p-chloro-, and p-methylbenzoyl peroxides are very similar to the reaction of benzoyl peroxide itself (Part I of this series (Lynch and Pausacker 1957)), but it has been found that m-nitro- and p-nitrobenzoyl peroxide give very much higher yields of the corresponding diphenyl. This is explained by assuming that the latter two compounds are more susceptible to induced decomposition.