Fuel oxidation chain reaction, inhibition

The inhibition of the free-radical fuel oxidation chain reaction occurs according to the following scheme ... 

The results given in this paper show that aliphatic amines do not catalyze the decomposition of peroxides, and compared with their effect at the start of reaction, they have much less effect on the later stages of oxidation, although they appear to retard the decomposition of peracetic acid. The reactions of radicals with aliphatic amines indicate that an important mode of inhibition is most probably by stabilization of free radicals by amine molecules early in the chain mechanism, possibly radicals formed from the initiation reaction between the fuel and oxygen. For inhibition to be effective, the amine radical must not take any further part in the chain reaction set up in the fuel-oxygen system. The fate of the inhibitor molecules is being elucidated at present. 

Mechanism III. Amines may interact with important molecule intermediates formed during the oxidation of the fuel—e.g., peroxides. If this occurred by a nonchain process, degenerate chain branching would be stopped, and there would be effective inhibition, provided that the initiation reaction between the fuel and oxygen was slow. 

It is believed that peractic acid is primarily responsible for chain branching during the oxidation of acetaldehyde (12) and ethyl ether (24, 27). Although amines are powerful inhibitors of these oxidation processes, they have much less effect if added during the reaction. The inhibiting power of amines becomes smaller the longer the reaction between the fuel and oxygen has proceeded. Similar behavior is observed... 

The PDH complex of mammals is strongly inhibited by ATP and by acetyl-CoA and NADH, the products of the reaction catalyzed by the complex (Fig. 16-18). The allosteric inhibition of pyruvate oxidation is greatly enhanced when long-chain fatty acids are available. AMP, CoA, and NAD+, all of which accumulate when too little acetate flows into the citric acid cycle, allosterically activate the PDH complex. Thus, this enzyme activity is turned off when ample fuel is available in the form... 

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