Kinetics of radical reactions of tropospheric importance

<p>The object of the research described in this thesis is to provide, by means of laboratory experiments, data required to understand the atmospheric chemistry of the nitrate radical, from both a mechanistic and kinetic point of view.</p> <p>The lo...

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Main Authors: Monks, P, Monks, Paul S.
Other Authors: Wayne, R
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 1991
Subjects:
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author Monks, P
Monks, Paul S.
author2 Wayne, R
author_facet Wayne, R
Monks, P
Monks, Paul S.
author_sort Monks, P
collection OXFORD
description <p>The object of the research described in this thesis is to provide, by means of laboratory experiments, data required to understand the atmospheric chemistry of the nitrate radical, from both a mechanistic and kinetic point of view.</p> <p>The low pressure discharge-flow kinetic technique coupled detection of the NO<sub>3</sub> radical by optical absorption was used to measure the temperature-dependent rate coefficients for the reaction of NO<sub>3</sub> with 1-butene, 1-chloro-l-butene, 2-chloro-2-butene, 3-chloro-l-butene, 1-chloro-2-butene, 2-chloro-2-butene, 1-chloromethylpropene, 3-chloromethylpropene, 3-bromo-1-butene, 4-bromo-l-butene and 2-bromo-2-butene. The atmospheric implications for the reaction of NO<sub>3</sub> with these compounds are discussed.</p> <p>In order to understand the patterns of reactivity towards NO<sub>3</sub> exhibited by these compounds, a number of approaches were adopted. First, a non-quantitative approach employing the simple ideas of inductive and mesomeric effects. Secondly the observed reactivity of NO<sub>3</sub> towards these compounds was discussed, quantitatively, in terms of the relative energies of the interacting orbitals. This quantitative analysis required an extensive set of molecular orbital calculations were undertaken at various levels of sophistication. A good correlation was found, for compounds not containing vinylic halogen atoms, between -E(HOMO) and the measured rate constant; the data were used also to calculate "group-reactivity factors". In an extension to this work a new empirical correlation is presented that takes account of the contribution, in terms of the atomic orbital coefficients, of vinylic halogen atoms to the observed rate constant. To provide support for these calculations, work was undertaken using photoelectron spectroscopy to characterise experimentally the individual molecular orbitals. A correlation between the inverse of the molecular polarisability and the activation energy of the reaction is also described.</p> <p>Complementary work was undertaken in a unconventional flash-photolysis system to look at the kinetics of the reaction NO<sub>3</sub> + NO<sub>3</sub> andlongrightarrow; 2 NO<sub>2</sub> + O<sub>2</sub> over a pressure range of 2 to 100 Torr in helium. The measured rate coefficient was found to be pressure independent and to have a value of (2.2±1.0) x 10<sup>-16</sup> cm<sub>3</sub> molecule<sup>-1</sup> s<sup>-1</sup>.</p> <p>The experimental work on the nitrate radical was extended to look at the laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) spectrum and at the quenching of the excited state of the nitrate radical.</p>
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spelling oxford-uuid:57362031-6d04-481e-8b23-cc2cefa1cc5c2022-03-26T16:55:18ZKinetics of radical reactions of tropospheric importanceThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:57362031-6d04-481e-8b23-cc2cefa1cc5cTropospheric chemistryChemical reactionsChemical kineticsEnglishPolonsky Theses Digitisation Project1991Monks, PMonks, Paul S.Wayne, RWayne, R<p>The object of the research described in this thesis is to provide, by means of laboratory experiments, data required to understand the atmospheric chemistry of the nitrate radical, from both a mechanistic and kinetic point of view.</p> <p>The low pressure discharge-flow kinetic technique coupled detection of the NO<sub>3</sub> radical by optical absorption was used to measure the temperature-dependent rate coefficients for the reaction of NO<sub>3</sub> with 1-butene, 1-chloro-l-butene, 2-chloro-2-butene, 3-chloro-l-butene, 1-chloro-2-butene, 2-chloro-2-butene, 1-chloromethylpropene, 3-chloromethylpropene, 3-bromo-1-butene, 4-bromo-l-butene and 2-bromo-2-butene. The atmospheric implications for the reaction of NO<sub>3</sub> with these compounds are discussed.</p> <p>In order to understand the patterns of reactivity towards NO<sub>3</sub> exhibited by these compounds, a number of approaches were adopted. First, a non-quantitative approach employing the simple ideas of inductive and mesomeric effects. Secondly the observed reactivity of NO<sub>3</sub> towards these compounds was discussed, quantitatively, in terms of the relative energies of the interacting orbitals. This quantitative analysis required an extensive set of molecular orbital calculations were undertaken at various levels of sophistication. A good correlation was found, for compounds not containing vinylic halogen atoms, between -E(HOMO) and the measured rate constant; the data were used also to calculate "group-reactivity factors". In an extension to this work a new empirical correlation is presented that takes account of the contribution, in terms of the atomic orbital coefficients, of vinylic halogen atoms to the observed rate constant. To provide support for these calculations, work was undertaken using photoelectron spectroscopy to characterise experimentally the individual molecular orbitals. A correlation between the inverse of the molecular polarisability and the activation energy of the reaction is also described.</p> <p>Complementary work was undertaken in a unconventional flash-photolysis system to look at the kinetics of the reaction NO<sub>3</sub> + NO<sub>3</sub> andlongrightarrow; 2 NO<sub>2</sub> + O<sub>2</sub> over a pressure range of 2 to 100 Torr in helium. The measured rate coefficient was found to be pressure independent and to have a value of (2.2±1.0) x 10<sup>-16</sup> cm<sub>3</sub> molecule<sup>-1</sup> s<sup>-1</sup>.</p> <p>The experimental work on the nitrate radical was extended to look at the laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) spectrum and at the quenching of the excited state of the nitrate radical.</p>
spellingShingle Tropospheric chemistry
Chemical reactions
Chemical kinetics
Monks, P
Monks, Paul S.
Kinetics of radical reactions of tropospheric importance
title Kinetics of radical reactions of tropospheric importance
title_full Kinetics of radical reactions of tropospheric importance
title_fullStr Kinetics of radical reactions of tropospheric importance
title_full_unstemmed Kinetics of radical reactions of tropospheric importance
title_short Kinetics of radical reactions of tropospheric importance
title_sort kinetics of radical reactions of tropospheric importance
topic Tropospheric chemistry
Chemical reactions
Chemical kinetics
work_keys_str_mv AT monksp kineticsofradicalreactionsoftroposphericimportance
AT monkspauls kineticsofradicalreactionsoftroposphericimportance