p-Benzyne.

A noble gas matrix at low temperature was used to investigate the photochemical behavior of diacetyl terephthaloyl diperoxide and dipropionyl terephthaloyl diperoxide as well as 1,4-diiodobenzene. All three photoreactions formed small quantities of a compound with IR absorption bands at 725 and 980 cm-1 , which disappeared when the matrix was annealed. These bands correspond to the most intense of the calculated bands (B3LYP) for 1,4-didehydrobenzene (p-benzyne) (1). That decomposition of the peroxides in fact leads to 1 is confirmed by vapor-phase pyrolysis experiments in which (Z)-2 was obtained in high yield.