Reactions of molecular oxygen with nitrogen compounds

2 REACTIONS OF MOLECULAR OXYGEN WITH NITROGEN COMPOUNDS 

The cyanogen 02 explosion and flame were the subject of a number of investigations by Dixon et alf They reported CO as an initial product, 

The first kinetic measurements on the reaction of molecular oxygen with free 

CN radicals appear to have been those of Paul and Dalby , who studied the kinetics of disappearance of CN formed from the flash photolysis of cyanogen under varying conditions. They determined the rate coefficient for the disappearance of CN in the presence of O2 to be 5.5 x 10 I.mole . sec , assuming there was no chain reaction occurring. The nature of the products of the reation was not determined. 

Basco studied the reaction in a similar flash photolysis apparatus, and found the overall rate coefficient for CN disappearance to be 4.6 x 10 l.mole . sec , in excellent agreement with Paul and Dalby . He found that in the presence of excess O2, ozone was formed. He also spectroscopically detected NCO, a previously unidentified species which he assumed to be N2C2O or NCO2CN, and vi-brationally excited NO. To explain these results, he proposed the mechanism 

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