Initiation and Carbene Induced Radical Chain Reactions in CHF Pyrolysis.

High temperature dissociations of organic molecules typically involve a competition between radical and molecular processes. In this work, we use a modeling, experiment, theory (MET) framework to characterize the high temperature thermal dissociation of CHF, a flammable hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) that finds widespread use as a refrigerant. Initiation in CHF proceeds via a molecular elimination channel; CHF→CHF+HF.