Reaction of liquid and solid D2-T2

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Abstract
Collision-induced infrared spectroscopy has been used to measure the initial rate of the chemical exchange of equimolar D2 and T2 in liquid and solid forms from 9 to 23K over 23 to 45 h. If first-order kinetics are assumed, the time constant is 100-140 h for thermal equilibrium and 160-180 h for a hot-atom equilibrium. The latter is favoured, but cannot be confirmed. Approximately three DT molecules are formed per ion pair (using the gas-phase value of 36.6 eV/ion pair). A likely mechanism is reaction of the T2+ to the T3+ ion, followed by exchange. The slowness of the exchange suggests that molecular DT can be isolated and handled for fusion applications.