The role of t-butyl chloride as an intermediate in the hydrogen chloride catalysed decomposition of t-butyl isopropyl ether

The possible formation of t-butyl chloride as an intermediate in the hydrogen chloride catalysed decomposition of t-butyl isopropyl ether according to the reactions is examined. Rates for t-butyl chloride decomposition and for the overall catalysed reaction are measured at 311�C and both a fourth-order Runge-Kutta method and Hamming's modified predictor-corrector method of numerical integration are used in computing the pressure-time curves due to the assumed reaction model using experi- mental values for k , and various assumed values for k2. It is found that no values for k2 can be found which generate the experimental curves and it is concluded that t-butyl chloride is not an intermediate of the reaction. If the hydrogen chloride catalysed decomposition of t-butyl isopropyl ether is typical of the family of catalysed decompo- sitions then alkyl halides generally have no role as intermediates.