Reaction of 3P oxygen atoms with dimethyl ether and trans-but-2-ene

Abstract

The mercury-photosensitized decomposition of nitrous oxide in a static system has been used to produce groundstate ³P oxygen atoms in order to study their reaction with dimethyl ether. By comparison of the reaction rate with the well established value for atomic oxygen and cis-but-2-ene; the activation energy for the reaction O + CH₃OCH₃→ CH₃OCH₂+ OH is found to be 4·44 ± 0·30 kcal. mole^–1 and the A factor is estimated as 2 × 10¹⁰|. mole^–1 sec.^–1. By the same method the rate equation for the corresponding reaction of atomic oxygen with trans-but-2-ene is found to be equal to 6 × 10¹⁰e^–0·76/RT|. mole^–1 sec.^–1.