The kinetics of decomposition of 3, 5, 5-trimethylhexanoyl peroxide (1) in benzene has been studied at 30, 40 and 50`C and the cage effect of decomposition has been determined by scavenging method. The relative amounts of the main products of decomposition of 1 at 50`C with change of initial concentration have been determined. The results showed that the decomposition of 1 followed first plus three halves order kinetics as reported for lauroyl peroxide (2), but had a larger cage effect of 0.6. The mechanism of decomposition of 1 is practically the same as what we have proposed for 2. The faster rate and larger cage effect but less induced decomposition of 1 than that of 2 are attributed to the branching of the molecule of 1, especially to the presence of β-methyl group, which causes a larger entropy increase in the transition state.

Key words: REACTION KINETICS, BENZENE, DECOMPOSITION REACTION, PEROXIDE, TRIMETHYL GROUP, ACYL GROUP