Identification of Intermediates in Pyridine Pyrolysis with Molecular-beam Mass Spectrometry and Tunable Synchrotron VUV Photoionization

The pyrolysis of pyridine （5.26% pyridine in argon） was performed with tunable synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization and molecular-beam mass spectrometry technique at the temperature range of 1255-1765 K at 267 Pa. About 20 products and intermediates, containing major species H2, HCN, C2H2, C5H3N, C4H2, and C3H3N, were identified by near-threshold measurements of photoionization mass spectra and their mole fractions vs. temperatures were estimated. The major reaction pathways are analyzed based on the experimental observations.     

Pyrolysis of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE). 1. Experimental study with molecular-beam mass spectrometry and tunable synchrotron VUV photoionization

An experimental study of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) pyrolysis (3.72% MTBE in argon) has been performed at low pressure (267 Pa) within the temperature range from 700 to 1420 K. The pyrolysis process was detected with the tunable synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photoionization and molecular-beam mass spectrometry (MBMS). About thirty intermediates are identified from near-threshold measurements of photoionization mass spectrum and photoionization efficiency spectrum. Among them, H2, CO, CH4, CH3OH and C4H8 are the major pyrolysis products. The radicals such as methyl, methoxy, propargyl, allyl, C4H5 and C4H7 are detected. The isomers of pyrolysis products are identified as well, i.e., propyne and allene, 1,2,3-butatriene and vinylacetylene, isobutene and 1-butene, propanal and acetone. Furthermore, the mole fractions of the pyrolysis products have been evaluated under various temperatures. Meanwhile, the initial formation temperatures of different pyrolysis products can be obtained. This work is anticipated to present a new experimental method for pyrolysis study and help understand the pyrolysis and combustion chemistry of MTBE and other oxygenated fuels.     

Product Identification and Mass Spectrometric Analysis of n-Butane and i-Butane Pyrolysis at Low Pressure

The pyrolysis of n-butane and i-butane at low pressure was investigated from 823-1823 K in an electrically heated flow reactor using synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry. More than 20 species, especially several radicals and isomers, were detected and identified from the measurements of photoionization efficiency (PIE) spectra. Based on the mass spectrometric analysis, the characteristics of n-butane and i-butane pyrolysis were discussed, which provided experimental evidences for the discussion of decomposition pathways of butane isomers. It is concluded that the isomeric structures of n-butane and i-butane have strong influence on their main decomposition pathways, and lead to dramatic differences in their mass spectra and PIE spectra such as the different dominant products and isomeric structures of butene products. Furthermore, compared with n-butane, i-butane can produce strong signals of benzene at low temperature in its pyrolysis due to the enhanced formation of benzene precursors like propargyl and C4 species, which provides experimental clues to explain the higher sooting tendencies of iso-alkanes than n-alkanes.     

Photoionization Mass Spectrometry: A Useful Method to Evaluate the Pyrolysis Process of Glycoside Flavor Precursor

The thermal decomposition behavior and the pyrolysis products of benzyl‐2,3,4,6‐tetra‐O‐acetyl‐β‐D‐glucopyranoside (BGLU) were studied with synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photoionization mass spectrometry at temperatures of 300, 500 and 700 °C at 0.062 Pa. Several pyrolysis products and intermediates were identified by the measurement of photoionization mass spectra at different photon energies. The results indicated that the primary decomposition reaction was the cleavage of O‐glycosidic bond of the glycoside at low temperature, proven by the discoveries of benzyloxy radical (m/z = 107) and glycon radical (m/z = 331) in mass spectra. As pyrolysis temperature increased from 300 to 700 °C, two possible pyrolytic modes were observed. This work reported an application of synchrotron VUV photoionization mass spectrometry in the study of the thermal decomposition of glycoside flavor precursor, which was expected to help understand the thermal decomposition mechanism of this type of compound. The possibility of this glycoside to be used as a flavor precursor in high temperature process was evaluated.     

Dissociative photoionization of 1,3-butadiene: experimental and theoretical insights

The vacuum-ultraviolet photoionization and dissociative photoionization of 1,3-butadiene in a region ～8.5-17 eV have been investigated with time-of-flight photoionization mass spectrometry using tunable synchrotron radiation. The adiabatic ionization energy of 1,3-butadiene and appearance energies for its fragment ions, C(4)H(5)(+), C(4)H(4)(+), C(4)H(3)(+), C(3)H(3)(+), C(2)H(4)(+), C(2)H(3)(+), and C(2)H(2)(+), are determined to be 9.09, 11.72, 13.11, 15.20, 11.50, 12.44, 15.15, and 15.14 eV, respectively, by measurements of photoionization efficiency spectra. Ab initio molecular orbital calculations have been performed to investigate the reaction mechanism of dissociative photoionization of 1,3-butadiene. On the basis of experimental and theoretical results, seven dissociative photoionization channels are proposed: C(4)H(5)(+) + H, C(4)H(4)(+) + H(2), C(4)H(3)(+) + H(2) + H, C(3)H(3)(+) + CH(3), C(2)H(4)(+) + C(2)H(2), C(2)H(3)(+) + C(2)H(2) + H, and C(2)H(2)(+) + C(2)H(2) + H(2). Channel C(3)H(3)(+) + CH(3) is found to be the dominant one, followed by C(4)H(5)(+) + H and C(2)H(4)(+) + C(2)H(2). The majority of these channels occur via isomerization prior to dissociation. Transition structures and intermediates for those isomerization processes were also determined.     

Detailed Temperature-dependent Study of n-Heptane Pyrolysis at High Temperature

n-Heptane is the most important straight chain paraffin in the fossil-fuel industry. In this work, pyrolysis behavior of n-heptane at high temperature is investigated by a se-ries of ReaxFF based reactive molecular dynamics simulations. Temperature effects on then-heptane pyrolysis and related products distributions have been detailedly analyzed. The simulation results indicate that the temperature effect is characterized in stages. High tem-perature can accelerate the decomposition of n-heptane, but the influence becomes small after it reaches a certain level. According to the different reaction behaviors, pyrolysis of n-heptane could be divided into three stages. The variation trends of the mass fraction evolu-tion of ethylene (C₂H₄), C3, and C4 calculated from reactive molecular dynamics simulations are in good agreement with the previous experimental results. The apparent activation en-ergy extracted from the first-order kinetic analysis is 53.96 kcal/mol and a pre-exponential factor is 55.34×10¹³ s^-1, which is reasonably consistent with the experimental results.     

On-line product analysis of pine wood pyrolysis using synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry

The pyrolysis process of pine wood, a promising biofuel feedstock, has been studied with tunable synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry. The mass spectra at different photon energies and temperatures as well as time-dependent profiles of several selected species during pine wood pyrolysis process were measured. Based on the relative contents of three lignin subunits, the data indicate that pine wood is typical of softwood. As pyrolysis temperature increased from 300 to 700 °C, some more details of pyrolysis chemistry were observed, including the decrease of oxygen content in high molecular weight species, the observation of high molecular weight products from cellulose chain and lignin polymer, and potential pyrolysis mechanisms for some key species. The formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was also observed, as well as three series of pyrolysis products derived from PAHs with mass difference of 14 amu. The time-dependent profiles show that the earliest products are formed from lignin, followed by hemicellulose products, and then species from cellulose.

A thermal decomposition study of polymers by tunable synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry

The thermal decomposition of polymers (poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) and polystyrene (PS)) has been studied with synchrotron VUV photoionization mass spectrometry at low pressure. Pyrolysis products formed at different temperatures have been identified by the measurement of photoionization mass spectra at different photon energies. The experimental results demonstrate the variation of the pyrolysis product pool of PVC at different temperatures, dividing the thermal decomposition process into two stages: the low‐temperature stage to form HCl and benzene, and the high‐temperature stage to form numerous large aromatic hydrocarbons. For the thermal decomposition of PS, four reaction categories are determined. This work reports a new application of synchrotron VUV photoionization mass spectrometry in the study of the thermal decomposition of polymers, and demonstrates its good performance in product analysis, which is expected to help understand the thermal decomposition mechanism of PVC, PS and other synthesized polymers. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

二茂铁的同步辐射光电离

The vacuum ultraviolet photoionization of ferrocene has been studied by using synchrotron radiation and a time-of-flight（TOF）mass spectrometer. The photoionization TOF mass spectrum and photoionization efficiency （PIE）curves of some ions were measured. VUV absorption by ferrocene results in Fe（C5H5）2+,FeC5H5+,Fe+,FeC3H3+,FeC3H+,C10H9+,C10H8+ and C5H6+. The ionization potential（IP）of ferrocene is determined to be （6.78±0.05）eV. The appearance potential（AP）of the fragment FeC5H5+ was measured to be（13.40±0.10）eV. In addition,theoretical calculations with the density functional method B3LYP and the basis set 6-31G（d）have been carried out. The calculation result shows that the ionization potential of ferrocene is 6.16 eV,which is smaller than that from the experiment because the ionization potential from calculation is adiabatic value and the experimental result is vertical value. Due to the limited available computational cost,the case of the electron spin S=1/2 for Fe is only considered,which may lead to some low precision in calculation. So the calculation result is just as references. The appearance potential of FeC5H5+ is 12.17 eV,which is also smaller than the experimental value. According to the experimental and calculation results,the bond energies of D0（FeC5H5+-C5H5）,D0（Fe+-C5H5）,D0（C5H5-Fe+-C5H5）have been evaluated and the possible channels of dissociation photoionization have been analyzed. Sequential elimination of C5H5 ligands is a major dissociation channel,but concerted elimination of two C5H5 ligands also takes place.     

On-Line Photoionization Mass Spectrometric Study on Behavior of Ammonia Poisoning on H-Form Ultra Stable Y Zeolite for Catalytic Pyrolysis of Polypropylene

In this work, pyrolysis photoionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (Py-PI-TOFMS) was applied to study the behavior of ammonia poisoning on H-form ultra stable Y (HUSY) zeolite for the catalytic pyrolysis of polypropylene (PP). Firstly, ammonia poisoning on HUSY was performed to obtain the suitable catalysts with different strength and amounts of acid sites. Secondly, online photoionization mass spectra for the pyrolysis products of PP and HUSY with various acid strength were recorded at different pyrolysis temperatures. Finally, the formation curves of various pyrolysates of PP/HUSY with the increase of temperature were determined. Our results indicate that the formation temperatures, yields and selectivity of the pyrolysis products of PP demonstrate obvious relationship with the acid strength of HUSY.     

Thermal decomposition of glycidyl azide polymer studied by synchrotron photoionization mass spectrometry

In this work, the thermal decomposition reactions and products of glycidyl azide polymer (GAP) at low pressure have been investigated by tunable synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photoionization and molecular-beam sampling mass spectrometry. It has been observed that thermal decomposition of GAP began at a lower temperature (about 70 degrees C), compared to about 170 degrees C in the air. Most observed species in the thermal decomposition process have been clearly identified by measurements of the photoionization mass spectrum and photoionization efficiency (PIE) spectra. Many species have been detected at the initiation of the degradation. Compared with previous studies on thermal decomposition of GAP, some free radicals, such as C2H3O, C3H5O, C6H6N, C3H5ON3, and so forth, have been identified in the present work. The formation mechanisms of some important radicals have been discussed, and the most probable reaction routines have also been proposed, which should be of importance in understanding the energy-releasing mechanism of GAP thermal decomposition.     

Branching fractions of the CN + C3H6 reaction using synchrotron photoionization mass spectrometry: evidence for the 3-cyanopropene product

The gas-phase CN + propene reaction is investigated using synchrotron photoionization mass spectrometry (SPIMS) over the 9.8-11.5 eV photon energy range. Experiments are conducted at room temperature in 4 Torr of He buffer gas. The CN + propene addition reaction produces two distinct product mass channels, C(3)H(3)N and C(4)H(5)N, corresponding to CH(3) and H elimination, respectively. The CH(3) and H elimination channels are measured to have branching fractions of 0.59 ± 0.15 and 0.41 ± 0.10, respectively. The absolute photoionization cross sections between 9.8 and 11.5 eV are measured for the three considered H-elimination coproducts: 1-, 2-, and 3-cyanopropene. Based on fits using the experimentally measured photoionization spectra for the C(4)H(5)N mass channel and contrary to the previous study (Int. J. Mass. Spectrom.2009, 280, 113-118), where it was concluded that 3-cyanopropene was not a significant product, the new data suggests 3-cyanopropene is produced in significant quantity along with 1-cyanopropene, with isomer branching fractions from this mass channel of 0.50 ± 0.12 and 0.50 ± 0.24, respectively. However, similarities between the 1-, 2-, and 3-cyanopropene photoionization spectra make an unequivocal assignment difficult based solely on photoionization spectra. The CN + CH(2)CHCD(3) reaction is studied and shows, in addition to the H-elimination product signal, a D-elimination product channel (m/z 69, consistent with CH(2)CHCD(2)CN), providing further evidence for the formation of the 3-cyanopropene reaction product.     

溴乙烷光电离解离的理论计算和实验

分子的电离电势、键能和离子的标准生成焓等都是非常重要的物理化学数据,它们对化学反应机理等研究有很大帮助,精确测定离子的出现势,就可以获得这些热力学常数.迄今为止,有关溴乙烷(Ｃ2Ｈ5Ｂｒ)电离解离过程的研究已有若干报导[1-3],但这些结果均是在常温条件下,用电子轰击电离、彭宁电离或真空紫外灯辐照等方法获得的,由于常伴有热带效应、离子分子反应、离子对形成等过程[4],其结果的准确性往往较差.本文首次报导使用同步辐射光源对Ｃ2Ｈ5Ｂｒ进行光电离解离研究.通过准确测量母体离子以及几种主要碎片离子的出现势,结合已有的公认的热力…     

Direct detection of products from the pyrolysis of 2-phenethyl phenyl ether

The pyrolysis of 2-phenethyl phenyl ether (PPE, C(6)H(5)C(2)H(4)OC(6)H(5)) in a hyperthermal nozzle (300-1350 °C) was studied to determine the importance of concerted and homolytic unimolecular decomposition pathways. Short residence times (<100 μs) and low concentrations in this reactor allowed the direct detection of the initial reaction products from thermolysis. Reactants, radicals, and most products were detected with photoionization (10.5 eV) time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PIMS). Detection of phenoxy radical, cyclopentadienyl radical, benzyl radical, and benzene suggest the formation of product by the homolytic scission of the C(6)H(5)C(2)H(4)-OC(6)H(5) and C(6)H(5)CH(2)-CH(2)OC(6)H(5) bonds. The detection of phenol and styrene suggests decomposition by a concerted reaction mechanism. Phenyl ethyl ether (PEE, C(6)H(5)OC(2)H(5)) pyrolysis was also studied using PIMS and using cryogenic matrix-isolated infrared spectroscopy (matrix-IR). The results for PEE also indicate the presence of both homolytic bond breaking and concerted decomposition reactions. Quantum mechanical calculations using CBS-QB3 were conducted, and the results were used with transition state theory (TST) to estimate the rate constants for the different reaction pathways. The results are consistent with the experimental measurements and suggest that the concerted retro-ene and Maccoll reactions are dominant at low temperatures (below 1000 °C), whereas the contribution of the C(6)H(5)C(2)H(4)-OC(6)H(5) homolytic bond scission reaction increases at higher temperatures (above 1000 °C).     

Detection of pentatetraene by reaction of the ethynyl radical (C2H) with allene (CH2=C=CH2) at room temperature

The reaction of ethynyl radical (C(2)H) with allene (C(3)H(4)) at room temperature is investigated using an improved synchrotron multiplexed photoionization mass spectrometer (MPIMS) coupled to tunable vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) synchrotron radiation from the Advanced Light Source at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). The orthogonal-accelerated time-of-flight mass spectrometer (OA-TOF) compared to the magnetic sector mass spectrometer used in a previous investigation of the title reaction (Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2007, 9, 4291) enables more sensitive and selective detection of low-yield isomeric products. The C(5)H(4) isomer with the lowest ionization energy, pentatetraene, is now identified as a product of the reaction. Pentatetraene is predicted to be formed based on recent ab initio/RRKM calculations (Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2010, 12, 2606) on the C(5)H(5) potential energy surface. However, the computed branching fraction for pentatetraene is predicted to be five times higher than that for methyldiacetylene, whereas experimentally the branching fraction of pentatetraene is observed to be small compared to that of methyldiacetylene. Although H-atom assisted isomerization of the products can affect isomer distribution measurements, isomerization has a negligible effect in this case. The kinetic behavior of the several C(5)H(4) isomers is identical, as obtained by time-dependent photoionization spectra. Even for high allene concentrations (and hence higher H-atom concentrations) no decay of the pentatetraene fraction is observed, indicating that H-assisted isomerization of pentatetraene to methyldiacetylene does not account for the difference between the experimental data and the theoretical branching ratios.     

Pyrolysis of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE). 2. Theoretical study of decomposition pathways

The thermal decomposition pathways of MTBE have been investigated using the G3B3 method. On the basis of the experimental observation and theoretical calculation, the pyrolysis channels are provided, especially for primary pyrolysis reactions. The primary decomposition pathways include formation of methanol and isobutene, CH4 elimination, H2 elimination and C-H, C-C, C-O bond cleavage reactions. Among them, the formation channel of methanol and isobutene is the lowest energy pathway, which is in accordance with experimental observation. Furthermore, the secondary pyrolysis pathways have been calculated as well, including decomposition of tert-butyl radical, isobutene, methanol and acetone. The radicals play an important role in the formation of pyrolysis products, for example, tert-butyl radical and allyl radical are major precursors for the formation of allene and propyne. Although some isomers (isobutene and 1-butene, allene and propyne, acetone and propanal) are identified in our experiment, these isomerization reaction pathways occur merely at the high temperature due to their high activation energies. The theoretical calculation can explain the experimental results reported in part 1 and shed further light on the thermal decomposition pathways.     

Experimental and Theoretical Study on Pyrolysis of Isopsoralen

The pyrolysis of isopsoralen was studied by synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry at low pressure. The pyrolysis products were detected at different photon energies, the ratios of products to precursor were measured at various pyrolysis temperatures. The experimental results demonstrate that the main pyrolysis products are primary CO and sequential CO elimination products (C₁₀H₆O₂ and C₉H₆O). The decomposition channels of isopsoralen were also studied by the density functional theory, then rate constants for competing pathways were calculated by the transition state theory. The dominant decom-position channels of isopsoralen and the molecular structures for corresponding products were identified by combined experimental and theoretical studies.     

Photodissociation dynamics of 1,2-butadiene at 157 nm

Photodissociation dynamics of 1,2-butadiene at 157 nm has been investigated using a molecular beam apparatus based on photoionization using vacuum ultraviolet synchrotron radiation. Six dissociation pathways have been observed. The observed channels are C4H5+H, C4H4+H2, C3H3+CH3, C2H3+C2H3, C2H4+C2H2, and C4H4+H+H. Among all the dissociation channels, the C3H3+CH3 channel is found to be the dominant process. The product kinetic energy distributions of all dissociation channels have been determined from simulating the experimental time-of-flight spectra. Relative branching ratios for all observed dissociation channels were also estimated based on all detected products.     

Bimolecular rate constant and product branching ratio measurements for the reaction of C2H with ethene and propene at 79 K

The reactions of the ethynyl radical (C(2)H) with ethene (C(2)H(4)) and propene (C(3)H(6)) are studied under low temperature conditions (79 K) in a pulsed Laval nozzle apparatus. Ethynyl radicals are formed by 193 nm photolysis of acetylene (C(2)H(2)) and the reactions are studied in nitrogen as a carrier gas. Reaction products are sampled and subsequently photoionized by the tunable vacuum ultraviolet radiation of the Advanced Light Source (ALS) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The product ions are detected mass selectively and time-resolved by a quadrupole mass spectrometer. Bimolecular rate coefficients are determined under pseudo-first-order conditions, yielding values in good agreement with previous measurements. Photoionization spectra are measured by scanning the ALS photon energy while detecting the ionized reaction products. Analysis of the photoionization spectra yields-for the first time-low temperature isomer resolved product branching ratios. The reaction between C(2)H and ethene is found to proceed by H-loss and yields 100% vinylacetylene. The reaction between C(2)H and propene results in (85 ± 10)% C(4)H(4) (m/z = 52) via CH(3)-loss and (15 ± 10)% C(5)H(6) (m/z = 66) by H-loss. The C(4)H(4) channel is found to consist of 100% vinylacetylene. For the C(5)H(6) channel, analysis of the photoionization spectrum reveals that (62 ± 16)% is in the form of 4-penten-1-yne, (27 ± 8)% is in the form of cis- and trans-3-penten-1-yne and (11 ± 10)% is in the form of 2-methyl-1-buten-3-yne.     

Experimental study of laminar lean premixed methylmethacrylate/oxygen/argon flame at low pressure

A fuel-lean laminar premixed methylmethacrylate/oxygen/argon flame at 2.67 kPa with an equivalence ratio (phi) of 0.75 has been investigated with the tunable synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photoionization and molecular beam sampling mass spectrometry techniques. Isomers of most observed species in the flame have been identified by measurements of photoionization mass spectra and the near-threshold photoionization efficiency spectra. Mole fraction profiles for about 42 flame species are displayed. Free radicals such as CH3, C2H3, C2H5, C3H3, C3H5, C2H3O, C4H7, C3H5O, C3H7O, C4H3O, C4H9O, C4H5O2, C4H7O2, and C5H7O2, which should be of importance in understanding the formation mechanism of some toxic substances, were detected in the flame. Moreover, no isomers of any PAHs have been detected in the lean flame. Combined with the mole fraction profiles, the formation mechanisms of the free radicals, oxygenated compounds, and other molecular intermediates are proposed and will provide important information on modeling the combustion kinetics of methylmethacrylate (MMA).