Experimental evidence for the elusive ketohydroperoxide pathway and the formation of glyoxal in ethylene ozonolysis

Abstract

Despite decades of research on alkene ozonolysis, the kinetic network of the archetypal case of ethylene (CH₂CH₂) with ozone (O₃) still lacks consensus. In this work, experimental evidence of an elusive diradical pathway is provided through the detection of the 2-hydroperoxyacetaldehyde ketohydroperoxide and its decomposition product, glyoxal.