REACTION OF ATOMIC OXYGEN WITH SOME SIMPLE ALKENES .2. REACTION PATHWAYS INVOLVING ETHENE, PROPENE AND (E)-BUT-2-ENE AT ATMOSPHERIC-PRESSURE

Results from a study of the reaction of atomic oxygen with ethene and propene at atmospheric pressure are reported. Pulse radiolysis of CO2 has been used to generate ground-state atomic oxygen in the presence o f the alkenes. The yield of methyl radicals from the reaction of O wit h ethene, propene and (E)-but-2-ene was measured as 0.70 +/- 0.05, 0.1 5 +/- 0.01 and 0.25 +/- 0.08, respectively. The yield of the vinyloxyl radical, CH2CHO, from the reaction of O atoms with propene was found to be 0.12 +/- 0.03, in good agreement with the methyl radical yield. An upper limit for other radical-producing channels for this reaction of 0.21 +/- 0.07 was derived. The formyl radical (HCO) was also search ed for in the ethene and propene systems but was not detected in eithe r, which placed an upper limit on its yield of 0.03 in both systems.