The reinvestigation of the kinetics of the metathesis reactions t-C4H9• + HBr (HI) → i-C4H10 + Br• (I•) and of the t-C4H9• free radical thermochemistry.

A reinvestigation of the absolute rate constant of the metathesis reactions t-C4H9• + HBr → i-C4H10 + Br• (1) and t-C4H9• + HI → i-C4H10 + I• (2) was performed thanks to a recently developed apparatus consisting of a Knudsen reactor coupled to detection based on single-photon (VUV) photoionization mass spectrometry (SPIMS). It enables the generation of thermalized hydrocarbon free radicals owing to a source upstream of and external to the Knudsen reactor. The following Arrhenius expressions were obtained: k1 = 5.

Effusive molecular beam-sampled Knudsen flow reactor coupled to vacuum ultraviolet single photon ionization mass spectrometry using an external free radical source.

A new apparatus using vacuum ultraviolet single photon ionization mass spectrometry (VUV SPIMS) of an effusive molecular beam emanating from a Knudsen flow reactor is described. It was designed to study free radical-molecule kinetics over a significant temperature range (300-630 K). Its salient features are: (1) external free radical source, (2) counterpropagating molecular beam and diffuse VUV photon beam meeting in a crossed-beam ion source of a quadrupole mass spectrometer with perpendicular ion extraction, (3) analog detection of the photocurrent of the free radical molecular cation, and (4) possibility of detecting both free radicals and closed shell species in the same apparatus and under identical reaction conditions owing to the presence of photoelectrons generated by the photoelectric effect of the used VUV-photons.

Reinvestigation of the elementary chemical kinetics of the reaction C2H5(•) + HBr (HI) → C2H6 + Br(•) (I(•)) in the range 293-623 K and its implication on the thermochemical parameters of C2H5(•) free radical.

A reinvestigation of the absolute rate constants of the metathesis reactions C2H5• + HBr → C2H6 + Br• (R1) and C2H5• + HI → C2H6 + I• (R2) has been performed and led to the following Arrhenius expressions: k1 = 3.69(±0.95) × 10–11 exp(−10.