CARBON-ATOM INITIATED DEGRADATION OF CARBON-TETRACHLORIDE IN THE PRESENCE OF MOLECULAR-OXYGEN - A PRODUCT AND MECHANISTIC STUDY

This paper reports an investigation of the gas-phase reaction of atomi c carbon with carbon tetrachloride in the presence of molecular oxygen . It is demonstrated that carbon tetrachloride can he oxidatively degr aded by this method. Results from FT-IR and GC/MS studies suggest that the major products from the reaction are phosgene and carbon dioxide. The initial step involves breaking the carbon-chlorine bond as a resu lt of the reaction of atomic carbon with carbon tetrachloride. Laser-i nduced fluorescence studies have shown the presence of CCl as an inter mediate produced from this reaction. A tentative mechanism is proposed to describe the details of the chemistry.