The reaction of nitric oxide with vibrationally excited ozone

The reaction between nitric oxide and vibrationally excited ozone was studied in a fast flow reactor by monitoring the visible emission from electronically excited NO₂^*. The antisymmetric mode (ν₃) of O₃ was excited with a Q-switched 9.6 μm CO₂ laser, and a laser-induced signal was detected, with a rise rate constant of (4.0 ± 0.5) × 10¹¹ cm³/mole sec and a decay rate constant of (1.1 ± 0.1) × 10¹¹ cm³/mole sec for an NO-rich mixture. The latter was unaffected by addition of large amounts of He or Ar, indicating that the signal was not a thermal effect. Most of the measurements were made at 350°K; however, the He and Ar dilution results suggest that the enhanced reaction rate is not very sensitive to temperature. In order to explain the observed rise times, it was necessary to postulate an intermediate step prior to the chemical reaction. A model which is consistent with our data has energy transferred from ν₃ to ν₂ (the bending mode) at a rate of (2.9 ± 0.5) × 10¹¹ cm³/mole sec for NO and a rate of (1.1 ± 0.2) × 10¹¹ cm³/mole sec for He. According to this model, the rate constant for the reaction of NO with O₃ (ν₂= 1) producing vibrationally excited ground state NO₂^†, NO + O₃^† (010) 3 NO₂^† + O₂ is (1.5 ± 0.2) × 10¹¹ cm³/mole sec, and the relative rate for the reaction of O₃ (ν₂ = 1) and O₃(ν₂ = 0) with NO was estimated to be k₃(1) k₃(0) ≈ 22.