Direct observation of unimolecular decay of CH3CH2CHOO Criegee intermediates to OH radical products
The unimolecular decay of carbonyl oxide intermediates, known as Criegee intermediates, produced in alkene ozonolysis is a significant source of OH radicals in the troposphere. Here, the rate of appearance of OH radical products is examined directly in the time-domain for a prototypical alkyl-substituted Criegee intermediate, CH3CH2CHOO, following vibrational activation under collision-free conditions. Furthermore, complementary statistical Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus calculations of the microcanonical unimolecular decay rate for CH3CH2CHOO are also carried out at energies in the vicinity of the barrier for 1,4 hydrogen atom transfer that leads to OH products. Tunneling through the barrier, derived from high level electronic structure calculations, contributes significantly to the decay rate. Infrared transitions of CH3CH2CHOO are identified in the CH stretch overtone region, which are detected by ultraviolet laser-induced fluorescence of the resultant OH products. The features observed are attributed to CH vibrational excitations and conformational forms utilizing insights from theory. Both experiment and theory yield unimolecular decay rates for CH3CH2CHOO of ca. 107 s-1, which are slower than those obtained for syn-CH3CHOO or (CH3)(2)COO reported previously at similar energies. Master equation modeling is also utilized to predict the thermal decay rate of CH3CH2CHOO under atmospheric conditions, giving a rate of 279 s-1 at 298 K.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences Division; National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-06CH11357; CHE-1362835
- OSTI ID:
- 1350088
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1273668
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 145, Issue 4; ISSN 0021-9606
- Publisher:
- American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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