Kinetics and mechanism of recoil chlorine atom reactions with ethylene
Addition and abstraction are the major reactions observed between nuclear recoil generated chlorine atoms and ethylene. The addition reaction is characterized, and its relative efficiency is determined for low energy chlorine in systems containing H2 and C3F6 as competitive reactants. At low pressures, the unimolecular kinetics of an addition-decomposition process yielding HCl are examined, and the relative translational energy of the chlorine atoms which initiate that reaction is estimated. Hydrogen abstraction from ethylene is also explored in this system and found to be predominantly a low energy process in competition with addition. In the limits of high pressure and high moderation, the rate ratio of addition to abstraction for low energy chlorine atoms with ethylene is found to be 15.5 ± 0.5. Results for competitive addition reactions between C2H4 and C3F6 yield a rate ratio of 16 ± 2 favoring ethylene. The only additional reaction observed in pure ethylene corresponds to carbon-carbon bond scission and accounts for less than 1% of the total yield. © Copyright, 1977, by the American Chemical Society.
