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The kinetic energy released in the major charge‐separation reactions of [C7H8]++ [C7H7]++ and [C7H6]++ formed from toluene, and in the corresponding reactions of toluene‐α‐d3, toluene‐d8 and 2,3,4,5,6‐toluene‐d6 has been measured. Some fragmenting [C7]++ ions are linear; in certain cases they have cyclic structures while in others ‘coiling’ of a linear ion to allow hydrogen transfer in the transition state is suggested. From relative metastable ion abundance data it is apparent that nearly complete H/D randomization accompanies these slow reactions.
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Ast et al. (1972) studied this question.
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