The mechanism of the photolysis of acetamide

Abstract

An investigation of the photolysis of acetamide has been made using light in the 2500 Å region of the spectrum. The main primary process is the breakdown of the molecule into CH 3 and CONH 2 radicals, but this is probably accompanied by a second process yielding CH 3 CN and H 2 O. The methyl radicals react both with acetamide and with CONH 2 radicals to give methane and recombine to give ethane. The CONH 2 radicals may decompose both spontaneously and thermally to give CO and NH 2 radicals. The subsequent reaction of the NH 2 radicals with acetamide gives ammonia. With acetone as a source of methyl radicals, the activation energy for the abstraction of hydrogen by this radical was found to be 9⋅2 kcal/mole and the steric factor ~ 4 x 10 -4 .