The relative rate constants for the reaction of ozone with a variety of ring-substituted phenylethylenes in CC14 solution obey Hammett's equation log k,, = log k:el + pa, with a x -0.9. Non-conjugating 8-substituents affect the rate constants in Taft's a* order k:c,(CH3) > (H) > k:e,(COOCH3). These results illustrate the electrophilic mode of attack of ozone.Les constantes de vitesse relatives pour I'ozonolyse de phenylCthylenes substitues dans le noyau, en solution dans le CCL, obeissent a l'equation de Hammett log k,,, = log kk, + pa, avec a x -0 9. Les substituants P ne conjugant pas avec la double liaison ethylenique affectent kfe1 dans I'ordre polaire de Taft k:e,(CH3) > (H) > k~, (COOCH,). Ces rksultats illustrent le mode d'attaque electrophile de I'ozone.Canadian Journal of Chemistry. 50. 2841 (1972) The dipolar character of ozone has been stressed by Huisgen (I), who advocated that the reaction between ozone and olefin is in general a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition. This is the olefin molecules is increased. In terms of the 1,3-cycloaddition model for the reaction it would, thus, appear that, although the two new a bonds are formed quasi-simultaneously, their rates of formation seem to differ because the ozone appears to attack by its positive pole.Earlier kinetic studies (2b, c) indicated, however, that the observed trends in reactivity cannot be explained only in terms of an electrophilic attack by ozone, although this appeared to be the predominant factor in many cases. The possible participation of an alternative reaction path via a n or a a complex has been considered by several authors (2-5). The kinetic results were interpreted in terms of the mechanisms represented in Scheme 1 (2, 5).2 'Extracted from the Ph.D. Thesis of G. Klutsch, Unlversitk de Montreal, MontrCal, Quebec, 1971 2The following structures were suggested for the intermed~ary complex (3-5).The study of the relative reaction rates for the ozone attack on alkyl-substituted ethylenes in inert solvents (5) also contributes in supporting the participation of a reaction path implying a reversible intermediate complex formation. Contrasting with the situation in which the overall electrophilic character of the ozone attack is preserved, the relative reaction rates for the ozone attack on alkyl-substituted ethylenes follow an overall nucleophilic trend. In CCl, solution, the kinetics are described adequately by Taft's equation [I] log k = log k0 + p* Ca* where xa* is the sum of Taft's polar constants for the two substituents, and p " 7.58 (trans) and p* = 5.37 (cis) are the polar reaction constants (5). These positive p* values suggest, within the mechanism outlined in Scheme 1, that electron-releasing alkyl groups delay the oxygen 0-attack on the corresponding carbon atom to give the primary ozonide (1,2,3-trioxolane). Hence, the global process appears to be nucleophilic in nature when the final step is the ring-closure, implying, thus, that the determining step is not the formation of the initial olefin-ozone complex but its conversion...