Résumé : The thermal cracking of phenol 1-14C and of phenols tritiated in specific positions has been studied at atmospheric pressure between 665 and 865°C, with a contact time of 2·5 seconds, suggesting the most probable reactions occuring during the thermal cracking. All the aromatic compounds, except benzene and to a less extent toluene, obtained by thermal cracking of phenol, are not produced by conservation of the aromatic ring, but by an intermediate structure C10H12 derived from the condensation of two C5 fragments. The results have shown that the carbon atom carrying the hydroxyl function is always the one eliminated in forming the C5 fragment. © 1975.