The thermal stability of linseed oil and poppyseed oil hydroperoxides in a temperature range from ambient to 120°C has been investigated on the basis of iodometric titration. The peroxide value (PV) vs. oxidation time curves show similar developments at the six temperatures chosen for the experiments. These curves are characterized by a fast increase in the PV up to a maximal value, followed by a decrease in the PV at a lower rate. The maximal PV is higher when the curing temperature is lowered. This result indicates thermal decomposition of the hydroperoxides. The peroxy crosslink concentration in the dried oil film varies similarly to the hydroperoxide concentration. This indicates that, for dried films, the network is almost totally constituted of ether and C-C crosslinks. A comparison of the rates of peroxide decomposition under thermolytic and thermooxidative conditions has evidenced that the only homolytic scission of the O-O bonds cannot justify the decrease of the PV in thermooxidation. Another mechanism accounting for hydroperoxide decomposition, based on an induced decomposition of the hydroperoxides, has been proposed. These results have permitted completing the description of the curing mechanisms of drying oils.The oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) has been extensively reviewed in the literature. The main interest was the study of oxidation of fatty acids contained in food products because even low levels of oxidation often imply a denaturation of the taste or odor of the product.The aim of our research is to study the oxidation of drying oils in paints where the surface/volume ratio is much higher. In a previous article (1), we reported data that showed that the oxidation levels in the dried films were much more important than in the food industry. Mechanisms accounting for the oxidative polymerization of drying oils have been proposed. However, it is of great interest to investigate the influence of temperature on the fate of the hydroperoxide groups (ROOH) formed in the drying step, because secondary oxidation reactions (formation of oxidized by-products and crosslinking) can probably be influenced by the concentrations of alkoxyl and hydroxyl radicals obtained by decomposition of the hydroperoxides.Thermal or photochemical oxidation of fatty acid chains contained in oils leads to the formation of ROOH as primary oxidation products (2,3). Their structures are those of secondary ROOH in α-position to a double bond (4,5). Although the structures of all these ROOH groups are well determined, only a few articles deal with the stability of these products in dried films. The photochemical degradation of ROOH is a well-known property (6), and their thermal instability at high temperatures up to 150°C has been used to determine their structure (7) and to study the structures of the volatile products formed in autoxidation (4,8-11). However, thermal stability of ROOH at lower temperatures (from ambient to 120°C) has received only little attention in thin layers of drying oils, that is, under ...