The high temperature oxidation of the methyl side chain of toluene

From the results of order of magnitude analyses, it is concluded that during the oxidation of toluene, radical‐atom and radical‐radical reactions (1) and (3) play an unusually important and approximately equal role in the formation of benzaldehyde, an intermediate that leads eventually to the complete removal of the side chain. equation image An additional radical‐radical system, reaction (2), is shown to be the most likely source of benzyl alcohol observed during toluene oxidation. equation image