“…Thus, the water addition to the reaction medium leads to the dissociation (“increases” the strength) of organic acids formed at the initial stage of oxidation. As a result, intermediate rearrangement with the tertiary peroxide formation becomes possible; some oxidation reactions proceed according to the scheme shown in Figure , with the formation of phenols and/or higher alcohols, the presence of which in the hydrocarbon medium, even in small amounts (0.0005–0.1 wt %), significantly inhibits the oxidation rate of hydrocarbons. − That is, the inhibitory effect of water is shown not only in the stages of growth and chain branching, as described by many authors, but also due to a partial change in the oxidation mechanism.…”