In order to study the mechanism of thermal geometrical isomerization involving a sp2- hybridized nitrogen atom, kinetic effects of substituent, solvent, and pressure were studied in substituted N-benzylideneanilines. The effect of the substituent on the aniline moiety was almost independent of the electronic nature of the benzylidene group, and the results could be described satisfactorily by log (kllz,)= p [S+ r+(a+-ao)+ r (r-uO)], except for the 4-( ...