Reactions of Ethyl Radicals Produced in the Pyrolysis of Azoethane in Reflected Shock Waves

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Abstract
A shock tube coupled to a time‐of‐flight mass spectrometer has been used to study the reactions of ethyl radicals at temperatures much higher than before. The radicals were formed by heating mixtures containing azoethane highly diluted in neon to between 1000 and 1540°K in reflected shock waves at a total density of 9×1017 particle/cc. Detailed measurements of the products including ethylene, acetylene, ethane, methane, propane, n‐butane, and methyl radicals have been made over a reaction time of 250 μsec. The effects of adding ethylene and azomethane to the reaction mixture have also been investigated. Experiments have been made on the thermal decomposition of n‐butane over the range 1160–1550°K, and the ``apparent first‐order'' decay rates for n‐butane yielded an activation energy of close to 32.5 kcal/mole. Possible mechanisms for product formation are qualitatively discussed and a set of 12 elementary reactions is adopted to describe the experimental observations.

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