Extreme Low-Temperature Combustion Chemistry: Ozone-Initiated Oxidation of Methyl Hexanoate

The accelerating chemical effect of ozone addition on the oxidation chemistry of methyl hexanoate [CH₃(CH₂)₄C(═O)OCH₃] was investigated over a temperature range from 460 to 940 K. Using an externally heated jet-stirred reactor at p = 700 Torr (residence time τ = 1.3 s, stoichiometry φ = 0.5, 80% argon dilution), we explored the relevant chemical pathways by employing molecular-beam mass spectrometry with electron and single-photon ionization to trace the temperature dependencies of key intermediates, including many hydroperoxides. In the absence of ozone, reactivity is observed in the so-called low-temperature chemistry (LTC) regime between 550 and 700 K, which is governed by hydroperoxides formed from sequential O₂ addition and isomerization reactions. At temperatures above 700 K, we observed the negative temperature coefficient (NTC) regime, in which the reactivity decreases with increasing temperatures, until near 800 K, where the reactivity increases again. Upon addition of ozone (1000 ppm), the overall reactivity of the system is dramatically changed due to the time scale of ozone decomposition in comparison to fuel oxidation time scales of the mixtures at different temperatures. While the LTC regime seems to be only slightly affected by the addition of ozone with respect to the identity and quantity of the observed intermediates, we observed an increased reactivity in the intermediate NTC temperature range. Furthermore, we observed experimental evidence for an additional oxidation regime in the range near 500 K, herein referred to as the extreme low-temperature chemistry (ELTC) regime. Experimental evidence and theoretical rate constant calculations indicate that this ELTC regime is likely to be initiated by H abstraction from methyl hexanoate via O atoms, which originate from thermal O₃ decomposition. The theoretical calculations show that the rate constants for methyl ester initiation via abstraction by O atoms increase dramatically with the size of the methyl ester, suggesting that ELTC is likely not important for the smaller methyl esters. Experimental evidence is provided indicating that, similar to the LTC regime, the chemistry in the ELTC regime is dominated by hydroperoxide chemistry. However, mass spectra recorded at various reactor temperatures and at different photon energies provide experimental evidence of some differences in chemical species between the ELTC and the LTC temperature ranges.

Theoretical studies on the kinetics of hydrogen abstraction reactions of H and CH3 radicals from CH3OCH3 and some of their H/D isotopologues

The hydrogen abstraction reactions by H and CH3 radicals from CH3OCH3 and some of their H/D isotopologues are studied by semiclassical transition state theory. Many high-level density functional, ab initio, and combinatory quantum chemical methods, including B3LYP, BB1K, MP2, MP4, CCSD(T), CBS-Q, and G4 methods, are employed to compute the energies and rovibrational properties of the stationary points for the title reactions. Xij vibrational anharmonicity coefficients, used in semiclassical transition state theory, are computed at the B3LYP, BB1K, and MP2 levels of theory. Thermal rate coefficients and kinetic isotope effects are computed over the temperature range from 200 to 2500 K and compared with available experimental data. The computed rate constants for the title reactions are represented as the equation k(T) = ATn exp[−E(T + T0)/(T2 + T02)].

Pyrolysis of Ethyl Iodide as Hydrogen Atom Source: Kinetics and Mechanism in the Temperature Range 950–1200 K

Ethyl iodide is a well known H atom precursor in shock tube experiments. In the present work, we study peculiarities, when C2H5I is used under conditions, where its decomposition is not longer fast compared to consecutive bimolecular reactions. On the basis of shock tube experiments with detection of H and I atoms by resonance absorption spectrometry, accompanied by quantum chemical (CCSD(T)/6-311G//CCSD/6-311G) and statistical rate theory calculations, we propose a small mechanism (5 reactions, 7 species) and kinetic data, which allow an adequate description of C2H5I pyrolysis as a H atom source down to temperatures between 950 and 1200 K at pressures ranging from 1 to 4 bar: C2H5I→C2H5 + I (1), k 1 = 9.9 × 1012 exp(−23200 K/T) s−1; C2H5 + M→C 2H4 + H + M (2), k 2 = 1.7 × 10−6 exp(−16800 KT) cm3 s−1 [D. L. Baulch et al., J. Phys. Chem. Ref. Data 34 (2005) 757]; C2H5I→C2H4 + HI (3), k 3 = 1.7 × 1013 exp(−26680 KT) s−1; H + HI→H2 + I (4), k 4 = 7.9 × 10−11 exp(−330 KT) cm3 s−1 [D. L. Baulch et al., J. Phys. Chem. Ref. Data 10(Suppl. 1) (1981) 1]; C2H5I + H→C2H5 + HI (5), k 5 = 7.0 × 10−9 exp(−3940 KT) cm3 s−1. The latter bimolecular abstraction step turned out crucial for an adaquate d escription of the hydrogen atom concentration-time profiles in the above mentioned temperature and pressure range for initial concentrations [C2H5I]0 > 2 × 1013 cm−3 corresponding to mole fractions > 1 ppm.