Inorganic non-halogenated compounds

The reactions of a number of such compounds have been studied and a wide variety of rates of reaction are evident. It is of interest to note that molecular hydrogen reacts with sodium vapour in the gas phase under conditions where it is used as a carrier gas in sodium flame studies. A slow steady decrease in total pressure occurs as a run proceeds which can be attributed to sodium hydride formation. This can have an effect on the saturation of the carrier gas with sodium vapour when very long runs are employed. Thomas [108] has shown that after about six hours there is a considerable reduction in the amount of sodium vapour emerging from the nozzle, an effect that is absent for nitrogen as a carrier gas. The literature on sodium flame reactions makes no mention of this effect with the exception of the paper by Hodgins et al. [109]. 

Heller and Polanyi [90] have shown that sodium vapour reacts very slowly with carbon disulphide vapour in a stream of pentane at 270°C, the rate coefficient being approximately 3 x 10 cm mole sec . It is 

A number of other compounds also undergo similar association reactions. Bawn and Evans [110] have given evidence for the general mechanism 

2—10 Torr). There is independent confirmatory evidence for the reaction with oxygen and the pressure variation of the rate coefficient [111], but other workers [106] report a reaction between water vapour and gaseous sodium. 

Bawn and Evans [110] report chemiluminescent reactions of nitrous oxide and nitrogen dioxide with gaseous sodium. The luminescence (sodium D line) decreases with rise of temperature and the chemiluminescence flame is smaller than the normal flame. The mechanism proposed 

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A further example of a reaction with an inorganic non-halogenated compound is provided by the early example of the reaction of cyanogen with sodium vapour [17]. The mechanism is believed to be... 

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