Hydroperoxyl radicals—continued

The gas phase reactions which may be undergone by HO 2 depend on the conditions. It is these elementary steps which are involved in the slow reaction and at the third limit. Salt coated vessels may be assumed to be moderately or highly efficient for the destruction of hydroperoxyl at the surface. In such vessels the radical concentration is likely to be low and reactions between radicals are unlikely to be important. The reactions proposed for the HO2 under these conditions were (xi) [1, 23], or (xia) [7], the first of which leads to the formation of hydrogen peroxide and has since been shown to be the faster of the two [45]. Assuming that the hydrogen peroxide is decomposed without formation of further chain centres, reactions (iv) and (xi) then form a chain propagating cycle which continues until either a H or HO2 is destroyed at the vessel surface. 

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