Gas‐phase reaction of hydroxyl radicals withm‐,o‐ andp‐cresol

• DOI: 10.1002/kin.20186
• Publication Date: 2006-07-10T21:16:32Z
• Authors: Cecile Coeur‐Tour...; Françoise Henry; Marie‐Andrée Janquin; Laurent Brutier
• Keywords: 13. Climate action; 7. Clean energy; 01 natural sciences; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

AbstractThe gas‐phase reaction of oxygenated aromatic compoundsm‐cresol,o‐cresol, andp‐cresol with hydroxyl radicals has been studied by GC‐MS. Experiments have been performed in a large‐volume photoreactor (8000 L) at 294 ± 2 K and atmospheric pressure. The relative kinetic method was used to determine the rate constants for these reactions, with 1,3,5‐trimethylbenzene as a reference compound. The rate constants obtained arekOH(m‐cresol) = (5.88 ± 0.92) × 10−11cm3molecule−1s−1,kOH(o‐cresol) = (4.32 ± 0.52) × 10−11cm3molecule−1s−1, andkOH(p‐cresol) = (4.96 ± 0.75) × 10−11cm3molecule−1s−1. The degradation products observed and their respective molar yields were methyl‐1,4‐benzoquinone 12.4 ± 1.2%, 5‐methyl‐2‐nitrophenol 1.5 ± 0.3%, and 3‐methyl‐2‐nitrophenol 1.4 ± 0.3% fromm‐cresol, methyl‐1,4‐benzoquinone 5.6 ± 0.9%, and 6‐methyl‐2‐nitrophenol 4.7 ± 0.8% fromo‐cresol, and 4‐methyl‐2‐nitrophenol 17.2 ± 2.5% fromp‐cresol. This kinetic and product data are compared with the literature, and the reaction mechanisms are discussed. Our results are in accordance with the previous studies (Atkinson,J Phys Chem Ref Data1989, Monograph (1), 1–246; Atkinson and Aschmann,Int J Chem Kinet1990, 22, 59–67; Atkinson et al.,Environ Sci Technol1992, 26, 1397–1403; Atkinson et al.,J Phys Chem1978, 82, 2759–2805; Olariu et al.,Atmos Environ2002, 36, 3685–3697; Semadeni et al.,Int J Chem Kinet1995, 27, 287–304) and confirm the methyl‐1,4‐benzoquinone yields determined by a different experimental technique (long‐path Fourier transform infrared FT‐IR (Olariu et al., 2002)). © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 38: 553–562, 2006