ATMOSPHERIC REACTIONS AND ULTRAVIOLET AND INFRARED ABSORPTIVITIES OF NITROGEN TRIFLUORIDE

Nitrogen trifluoride is found to be stable towards photo-oxidation rea ctions that limit the atmospheric lifetimes of many gaseous species. R eactions with species such as OH and HO2 are thermodynamically unfavor able. The reaction with O-3, while thermodynamically favorable, is fou nd to be too slow to be of atmospheric importance. Measurements of the NF3 adsorption cross-sections from 180 to 250 nm yield values that ar e smaller than those previously reported, and indicate an atmospheric lifetime against photodissociation in the stratosphere of about seven hundred years. In addition, the infrared band strengths were determine d in order to enable estimates of greenhouse warming potentials. A slo w reaction with aqueous Fe2+ was observed at room temperature; it coul d provide an additional destruction mechanism in the environment.