When heated, neat or in hydrocarbon solvent, cis,trans-\,3-cyclooctadiene underwent both dimerization and isomerization. The structures of the 2 + 2 cyclodimers were assigned as the trans.cis, trans.trans, and cis,cis dimers. The ratio of the three dimers was found to be independent of the reaction temperature. The reaction followed good second-order kinetics and has /í* = 19 kcal/mol and 5+ = -10 eu. The results have been rationalized on the basis of a stepwise mechanism for dimer formation.he concerted, suprafacial, thermal fusion of two olefins to form a cyclobutane ring is a symmetryforbidden process.4 In accord with this prediction, thermal "1,2" cycloadditions of simple olefins have been shown to involve diradical intermediates.5 Thermal cycloaddition can, in theory, proceed in a concerted symmetry-allowed fashion by a (tt2s + ir2a) combination of the two 7 bonds.4 The high degree of stereospecificity in the 2 + 2 cycloaddition of olefins with alienes,6-12 ketenes,13-19 and reactive isocyanates20'21 points toward the possibility that these reactions are concerted. It appears that a cumulative -bond system can function more readily as a Tr2a donor than an isolated double bond. Orbital symmetry theory applied to the concerted fragmentation of cyclobutane demands that the process occur via the (