Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Facile crossover to the singlet potential energy surface followed by dissociation into two ground-state CO molecules Eq. (1) makes triplet ethylenedione—hitherto regarded as stable—extremely short-lived. Thus ethylenedione has remained undetected up to now not because it is elusive but due to its intrinsic instability, which is confirmed by mass spectrometric studies and theoretical calculations.
Schröder et al. (Fri,) studied this question.