The chemistry of methoxyl has been reviewed with emphasis
placed on quantitative experiments. The following reactions have
been discussed: radical production, combination, disproportionation
and hydrogen abstraction. There is very little quantitative
information available on the metathetical reactions of methoxyl
radicals, and in particular no previous studies of hydrogen
abstraction from C2 to C5 alkanes has been reported for methoxyl
or any other alkoxyl radical.
Three approaches to the study of the metathetical
reactions of methoxyl have been described. The first two methods,
which depended on measuring the rate of formation of products,
had to be abandoned because analysis showed that the systems were
more complex than previous work had indicated. The third and
apparently successful approach depended on measuring consumption
of reactants when methoxyls were generated in mixtures of alkanes
between 200 °C and 400°C:
CH3O + R1H = CH3OH + R1
CH3O + R2H = CH30H + R2
The alkyl radicals were removed by nitric oxide. The experiments
were oerformed in a cyclic flow system and the residual alkanes
were estimated by the Janak technique of gas chromatography