Activation parameters of supercritical and gas-phase β-pinene thermal isomerization

New data on enthalpy and entropy contributions to the energy barrier of β-pinene thermal isomerization were obtained. The rate of β-pinene conversion is higher in supercritical EtOH (P = 120 atm) than in the gas phase (P ≤ 1 atm, without solvent, or for inert carrier gas N2) at equal temperatures. The highest activation energy EΣ of total β-pinene conversion is also observed in reactions in the supercritical (sc) condition. Activation parameters ΔHΣ#, ΔSΣ#, and ΔGΣ# depend strongly on the reaction pressure. Thus, at P ≤ 1 atm (gas-phase reaction) the values of ΔSΣ# are negative, while at sc conditions at P = 120 atm is positive. The linear dependences lnkΣ0 − EΣ and ΔSΣ# − ΔSΣ# indicate an isokinetic relation (IKR) and enthalpy-entropy compensation effect (EEC). The isokinetic temperature was calculated (Tiso = 605.5 ± 22.7 K). It was shown that elevation of temperature reduces the value of ΔGΣ#(T) upon sc thermolysis only, whereas in all gas-phase reactions ΔGΣ#(T) increases. At equal reaction temperatures, the greatest values of Keq#(T) proved to be typical for thermolysis in sc-EtOH. We hypothesize that the rate of total β-pinene conversion increases dramatically due to a considerable shift in equilibrium toward higher concentrations of activated complex yTS#. A detailed analysis of activation parameters shows that the IKR and EEC coincide, evidence of a common mechanism of β-pinene conversion observed under different reaction conditions, including thermolysis in sc-EtOH.