A Study of the Effect of Molecular Oxygen on Atomic Oxygen‐hydrocarbon Reactions*

Investigations of the systems O—CH4 and, O—n‐C4H10 have been made, using techniques for producing atomic oxygen in the presence and absence of ground state molecular oxygen. The results indicated that the initial rate of removal of atomic oxygen from both systems was accelerated by the presence of molecular oxygen, whereas the initial rate of removal of hydrocarbon, for n‐butane, was affected little if at all. The relative concentrations of atomic oxygen, hydrocarbon and molecular oxygen appeared to govern the overall stoichiometry. It is concluded that rate constants observed in the absence of O2 and when [RH] ≥ [O], are probably a more reliable measure of the primary step: O + RH→Products.