Kinetics and thermodynamics of gas-phase thermal decomposition of 1-phenylethyl acetate to vinyl benzene and acetic acid (ethanoic) were carried out using the density functional theory (DFT) method at B3LYP/6-31++G**. Geometric parameters obtained include atomic charge distribution, dihedral angles, bond lengths, and bond angle for the ground state reactant (GS), transition state (TS), and the product (PRD) while the thermodynamic parameters such as a change in entropy change (∆S), change in enthalpy (∆Hreaction) and free Gibbs energy were calculated at 623K with an interval of 25K. Kinetic parameters determined include activation energy (Ea), Pre-exponential Arrhenius factor (log A) and rate (k). Geometric results revealed that the decomposition reaction is through asynchronous cleavage of α-ether oxygen bonds and β-carbon-hydrogen in the six-membered cyclic transition state: C2-H1 and C5-O7 bond breaking occurred first while the C9-H1 bond formation process is lagging behind in a single step. The ∆S (5.867 J/mol/K); ∆Hreaction (38.45 kcal/mol), ∆G (39.69 kJ/mol), Ea (43.7 kcal/mol), log A (12.70) and k (6.1 x 10 -2 S -1 ) compared well with the experimental available results in literature at 623K. The intrinsic reaction coordinate (IRC) on the TS structures shows that the reactant connects to the respective minima while the Wilberg bond index shows that the TS possesses 'an early' character closer to the reactant than the products. The theoretical calculation method can be used to study the thermodynamics, mechanism and kinetics of the thermal decomposition of acetates thus reducing the cost, laboratory experiments time and exposure to hazardous chemicals.