A kinetic isotope effect of ca. 2 was obtained for the pyrolysis of either l, l, l-trideuterio-2-butyl acetate or erythro-2-butyl-3-dl acetate over glass beads. Under the same reaction conditions, except for the use of a high surface area silica rather than glass beads, the isotope effect was lower. With the high area silica, 2-butanol dehydration produced no isotope effect, and, in contrast to acetate pyrolysis, the silica catalyzed HD exchange ...
