The Pyrolysis of Formaldoxime

Formaldoxime decomposes in a first-order reaction to give hydrogen cyanide and water at a rate k = 109.5e—39000/RT sec—1. The products react together at a slower rate to give principally carbon monoxide and ammonia although nitrogen, hydrogen, ethane and traces of unsaturate are also produced. The reaction is probably heterogeneous on a clean glass surface. It is accelerated by traces of air and by nitric oxide. These facts offer an adequate explanation of the fate of methyl radicals in nitric oxide inhibited reactions by the isomerization of the CH3NO complex into formaldoxime.