Rates and products have been determined for the thermal decomposition of sec-butyl peroxide at 110-150 "C in several solvents.The decomposition was shown to be unimolecular with energies of activation in toluene, benzene, arid cyclohexane of 35.5 & 1.0, 33.2 + 1.0, 33.8 + 1.0 kcal/mole respectively. The activation energy of thermal decomposition for the deuterated peroxide was found to be 37.2 + 1.0 kcal/mole in toluene.About 70-80% of the products could be explained by known reactions of free alkoxy radicals, and very little, if any, disproportionation of two sec-butoxy radicals in the solvent cage could be detected.The other 20-30% of the peroxide yielded Hz and methyl ethyl ketone. The yield of H z was unaffected by the nature or the viscosity of the solvent, but H z was not formed when s-BuZOZ was photolyzed in toluene at 35 "C nor when the peroxide was thermally decomposed in the gas phase.cc,a'-Dideutero-sec-butyl peroxide was prepared and decomposed in toluene at 110-150 "C. The yield of D, was about the same as the yield of H 2 from s-BuZ02, but the rate of decomposition (at 135 "C) was only '11.55 as fast.Mechanisms for hydrogen production are discussed, but none satisfactorily explains all the evidence.Canadian Journal of Chemistry, 48, 615 (1970) Introduction The decomposition of dialkyl peroxides has received less attention than that of other peroxidic species, partly, because being rather more stable, they have been less utilized for commercial purposes (i.e., initiation of free radical chain reactions); partly, because being less easily reduced, they are harder to analyze quantitatively. But perhaps too, because dialkyl peroxides have the reputation of being "well behaved" they have been regarded as uninteresting species. Dialkyl peroxides are commonly supposed to cleave on heating at the 0-0 bond by an exclusively homolytic process, relatively uncomplicated by other types of decomposition either radical or molecular in nature.