Propene radicals from radiolysis

The effect of electrical fields on the radiolysis of ethane has been examined by Ausloos et and this study has shown that excited molecules contribute a great deal to the products. The experiments were conducted in the presence of nitric oxide, and free-radical reactions were therefore suppressed. The importance of reactions (12)-(14) was clearly demonstrated by the use of various isotopic mixtures. Propane is formed exclusively by the insertion of CH2 into C2H6 and the yield is nearly equal to the yield of molecular methane from reaction (14). Acetylene is formed from a neutral excited ethane, probably via a hot ethylidene radical. Butene and a fraction of the propene arise from ion precursors while n-butane appears to be formed both by ionic reactions and by the combination of ethyl radicals. The decomposition of excited ethane to give methyl radicals, reaction (15), has been shown by Yang and Gant °° to be relatively unimportant. The importance of molecular hydrogen elimination has been shown in several studies ° °. ... 

The radiolysis of propane has been studied extensively in experiments that have included a wide range of techniques. The gas-phase radiolysis in the absence of inhibitors yields the products hydrogen, ethane, propene, 2,3-dimethylbutane, methane, ethylene, isobutane, acetylene, isopentane and n-butane as well as small quantities of butene-1, -pentane, 2-methylpentane and -hexane ° ° . At high conversions the yield of ethylene, propene, 2,3-dimethylbutane and isobutane are all reduced. The reduction in ethylene arises from hydrogen atom addition, while the reduction in the other products may arise from the reaction of propyl ions with propene to remove both C3H6 and the source of isopropyl radicals. 

Studies conducted in the presence of radical scavengers such as NO (refs. 383, 245, 409, 410), Oj (ref. 408) or H2S (ref. 246) have shown the importance of free-radical reactions in forming the products isobutane, 2,3-dimethylbutane, -butane, isopentane and others. The ethylene and propene yields are decreased by the presence of the scavengers owing to the disappearance of the fraction of these products that arises from disproportionation reactions. The products which are formed in the presence of inhibitors must arise from molecular or ion eliminations, ion-molecule reactions, excited molecule reactions or charge-neutralization reactions. Work on the inhibited radiolysis has led to a better understanding of the source of these products " . 

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