Kinetics of the Reactions of Hydrogen Atoms with Ethylene and Vinyl Fluoride

Abstract

Hydrogen atoms generated in a Wood-Bonhoeffer discharge were reacted with vinyl fluoride and ethylene. The products of the vinyl fluoride reaction were: HF, C2H4, C2H6, C2H2, CH4, C3H6, n-C4H10 and C3H8. With the exception of HF, all were quantitatively studied over the temperature range 303-603 K. The reaction of ethylene under similar conditions gave: C2H6, C3H8, n-C4Hi0 and CH4. The kinetics and mechanisms of both reactions have been studied in detail. The rate constants have been calculated for each step of the mechanisms for three temperatures allowing determination of activation energies. The calculation of the rate constants and testing of the mechanisms was accomplished by numerical integration of the simultaneous differential equations for each species involved in the reactions.