THE REACTION OF ACTIVE NITROGEN WITH METHANOL

Abstract

The reaction of active nitrogen with methanol has been investigated at several temperatures in the range 30 to 480 °C using a fast-flow system. The only condensable products found in appreciable amounts were water and hydrogen cyanide. The overall activation energy is 3.0 and 3.2 kcal/mole and the steric factors 1.3 × 10 −3 and 2.1 × 10 −3 for streamline and turbulent flow respectively.It is postulated that the mechanism consists of the initial formation of a collision complex, [NCH 3 OH], which breaks down to two fragments, NCH 3 and OH, from which the two condensable products are formed,[Formula: see text]Attack of the methanol molecules by hydrogen atoms resulting from the main reaction occurs to a lesser extent and is responsible for the production of small quantities of methane, carbon monoxide, and additional water.