The Unreactive Nature of N(24S) to Unsaturated Hydrocarbons

Abstract

Abstract The decay rates of ground-state atomic nitrogen in the presence of C2H4(ethene), Δ1,3-C4H6(1,3-butadiene), and C2H2(ethyne) were measured by using a pulse radiolysis-resonance absorption technique. It was found that the decay rates decrease drastically upon the addition of a small amount of I2, an efficient radical scavenger. This suggests that the decay of N(4S) in the absence of I2 is due to the reactions between the N(4S) and the free radicals. The rate constants for the reactions of N(4S)+C2H4, Δ1,3-C4H6, and C2H2 were estimated to be much less than 103 m3 mol−1 s−1. The rate constant for the N+I2→NI+I reaction was measured to be 2.4×104 m3 mol−1 s−1.