The dynamics of CO production from the O(³P) + methylacetylene reaction

The reaction of O(³P) atoms with methylacetlyene was studied at three temperatures between 260 and 350 K by means of a CO laser resonant absorption method. The CO formed in the reaction had a Boltzmann vibrational temperature of about 2400 K and carried only 1.9 ± 0.2% of the total available reaction energy, independent of the initial temperature of the system. Good agreement was obtained between the observed CO population distribution and that predicted by a simple statistical model, with the assumption that CH₂CH, and not C₃H₄, was formed initially in the reaction. The kinetics of the CO formation along with the results from the statistical indicate that the dominant primary step of the reaction is: O(³P) + CH₃C₂H → CH₃CH + CO.