Direct measurement of site-specific rates of reactions of H with C3H8, i-C4H10, and n-C4H10

Abstract

We measured the rates of abstraction of a hydrogen atom from specific sites in propane C3H8, 2-methyl propane (i-C4H10), and butane (n-C4H10); the sites are a primary hydrogen of C3H8 and i-C4H10 and a secondary hydrogen of n-C4H10. The excellent reproducibility of conditions of a diaphragm-less shock tube enabled us to conduct comparative measurements of the evolution of H atoms in three mixtures-(i) 0.5 ppm C2H5I + Ar, (ii) 0.5 ppm C2H5I + 50-100 ppm alkane as C3H8 or i-C4H10 or n-C4H10 + Ar, and (iii) the same concentrations of alkane + Ar without C2H5I-in the temperature range 1000-1200 K and at a pressure of 2.0 bars. The net profile of rise and decay of H atoms in the C2H5I + alkane mixture was derived on subtracting the absorbance of (iii) from that of (ii). Measurements of the mixture (iii) are important because the absorption of alkanes at 121.6 nm is not negligible. In the temperature range 1000-1100 K, the rate of decomposition of C2H5I was evaluated directly on analyzing the exponential growth of H atoms in the mixture (i). The rate of decomposition of C2H5I is summarized as ln(k/s(-1)) = (33.12 +/- 1.4) - (25.23 +/- 1.5) 10(3)/T (T = 1000-1100 K, P = 2.0 bars); the broadening factor F(T) in the Lindemann-Hinshelwood formula was evaluated in the fall-off region. The site-specific rates of H + (C-3-C-4) alkanes are summarized as follows: H + C3H8 -> H-2 + 1-C3H7, ln(k(1a)) = -(21.34 +/- 0.86) - (5.39 +/- 0.93) 10(3)/T, H + i-C4H10 -> H-2 + i-C4H9, ln(k(2a)) = -(20.50 +/- 1.36) - (6.14 +/- 0.13) 10(3)/T, H + n-C4H10 -> H-2 + 2-C4H9, ln(k(3b)) = - (21.37 +/- 1.15) - (4.83 +/- 1.26) 10(3)/T. The present experimental results are compared with published results from quantum-chemical calculations of potential-energy surfaces and transition-state theory. The present experiments are consistent with those calculations for the reaction rates for the attack at the primary site for H + C3H8 and H + i-C4H10, but for the attack at the secondary site of n-C4H10, our results are substantially smaller than the computational prediction, which might indicate a hindrance by the C-H bonds of the primary sites that serves to decrease the rate of abstraction from the secondary site of n-C4H10. The influence on the total rates of reactions H + alkane and the group additivity rule are discussed. Published by AIP Publishing.