
%0 Journal Article
%A Beattie, James K. 
%A Fleming, Douglas S. 
%T Destructive Oxidation of Mirex
%J Australian Journal of Chemistry
%D 1998/11/17
%V 51
%N 11
%P 973-976
%K 
%R https://doi.org/10.1071/C98013
%U https://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/C98013 
%X The perchlorinated aliphatic substance Mirex (perchloropentacyclo&#91;5.3.0.0 2,6.0 3,9.0 4,8&#93;decane) once had widespread use as an insecticide and still has limited application as a termiticide. Mirex resists direct oxidation by ruthenium tetraoxide. It undergoes a six-electron reduction in acetonitrile at &#8211;1&#183;2 V from the Ag/AgCl reference potential. One or more chlorines are readily substituted by methoxide at 90&#176;C. Both the reduced and the methoxylated derivatives are oxidized at room temperature by alkaline hypochlorite or persulfate in the presence of a homogeneous ruthenium catalyst. Only a trace amount of cyclohexane-extractable residue remains, but not all of the chlorine is released as ionic chloride. This implies that the oxidation products include some unidentified water-soluble organochlorine substances. 
