Formally direct pathways and low-temperature chain branching in hydrocarbon autoignition: the cyclohexyl + O2 reaction at high pressure.

The OH concentration in the Cl-initiated oxidation of cyclohexane has been measured between 6.5-20.3 bar and in the 586-828 K temperature range by a pulsed-laser photolytic initiation-laser-induced fluorescence method. The experimental OH profiles are modeled by using a master-equation-based kinetic model as well as a comprehensive literature mechanism. Below approximately 700 K OH formation takes place on two distinct time-scales, one on the order of microseconds and the other over milliseconds. Detailed modeling demonstrates that "formally direct" chemical activation pathways are responsible for the OH formation on short timescales. These results establish that formally direct pathways are surprisingly important even for relatively large molecules at the pressures of practical combustors. It is also shown that remaining discrepancies between model and experiment are attributable to low-temperature chain branching from the addition of the "second oxygen" to hydroperoxycyclohexyl radicals.