The Dissociation of Cyclopropane under Electron Impact

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Abstract
The electron‐impact‐induced dissociations of cyclopropane are determined from the appearance of potentials of the several ions formed. In general, the dissociations involve a considerable amount of atomic rearrangement, and the evidence points to the opening of the carbon ring in the formation of the C3 ions. The energy required to convert cyclopropane to ethylene and methylene is found to 77 kcal/mole, from which it is estimated that the C–C bond dissociation energy in cyclopropane is at least 50 kcal/mole. The unexpectedly good agreement of the values of the heat of formation of an ion formed by electron impact from several different sources is noted, and a question is raised as to the role of activation energies in the electron‐impact dissociations of polyatomic molecules.