Molecular oxygen insertion into organocobaloximes: Kinetics and decomposition studies

The insertion of molecular oxygen into the CoC bond in organocobaloximes under thermal and photochemical conditions has been studied. Kinetic studies have shown that the reaction is of first order with respect to both the complex and oxygen. The thermal decomposition of the organocobaloximes and their insertion products has been carried out in benzene and methanol and a mechanism is proposed for the decomposition.