The effect of oxygen pressure on the tropospheric oxidation of diethyl ether, H-atom elimination from the 1-ethoxyethoxy radical

Abstract

The simulated tropospheric oxidation of diethyl ether gave yields of the products ethyl formate, acetaldehyde and ethyl acetate in broad agreement with previous studies. However the effect of variation of oxygen pressure on the relative yields of ethyl acetate and ethyl formate disagrees with the prediction of the mechanism previously proposed. It is suggested that ethyl acetate is produced by the reaction C₂H₅OCH(O)CH₃→CH₃COOC₂H₅+H as well as by the reaction of the 1-ethoxyethoxy radical with oxygen.