The Effect of O2 and NO2 on the Ring Retaining Products of the Reaction of Benzene with Hydroxyl Radicals

Article abstract of DOI:10.1007/BF00807026

The reaction of benzene with hydroxyl radicals affords phenol and 1,4-benzoquinone in 0.18 ± 0.05 and 0.02 ± 0.01 yield, respectively. The main reaction of the hydroxycyclohexadienyl radical with oxygen leads to the respective peroxy radical which in turn decomposes to ring cleavage products and phenol. In the presence of NO₂, nitrobenzene is also formed with yields depending linearly on the initial NO₂ concentration and vanishing as [NO₂] approaches zero. The amount of phenol formed in the presence of NO₂ is equal to that formed in the absence of NO₂ within experimental error.