Estimation of rate constants for near-diffusion-controlled reactions in water at high temperatures

Abstract

Rate constants measured over the temperature range 20–200 °C are reported for the following reactions: (a) reaction of the hydrated electron with oxygen, the proton, hydrogen peroxide, nitrate, nitrite, nitrobenzene and methyl viologen; (b) reaction of the hydroxyl radical with another hydroxyl radical and ferrocyanide; (c) reaction of the hydrogen atom with permanganate and oxygen. To evaluate methods of estimating rate constants at high temperatures these rate constants and others in the literature have been fitted to the following equation: k_obs=k_diff/(1 +k_diff/k_react), where k_obs is the measured rate constant for the bimolecular reaction in solution, k_diff is the encounter rate constant of the two reacting species, and k_react is the rate constant that would be measured if diffusion of the species was not rate influencing. With the exception of reactions of the hydrated electron with nitrate and nitrite ions and nitrous oxide, good fits have been obtained to the above equation, and the results demonstrate that few, if any, of the reactions which are pertinent to water radiolysis are truly diffusion controlled at elevated temperatures.