Rate constants for the gas‐phase reactions of OH radicals with β‐dimethylstyrene and acetone. Mechanism of ββdimethylstyrene NOx – air photooxidation

The rate constants of gas‐phase reactions of the hydroxyl radical with β‐dimethylstyrene and acetone have been determined by a relative method at 298 K. The values obtained are β‐dimethylstyrene (3.3 ± 0.5) × 10−11 cm3/molecule·s and acetone (6.6 ± 0.9) × 10−13 cm3/molecule·s. A simplified kinetic treatment of the experimental data shows that β‐dimethylstyrene is stoichiometrically converted to benzaldehyde and acetone. In the photooxidation study of benzaldehyde, carbon dioxide was the only detected product. The ratio between carbon dioxide produced and benzaldehyde reacted was ≥1.