Kinetics of the reactions of atomic chlorine with methanol and the hydroxymethyl radical with molecular oxygen at 298 K

The rate constants for the reactions Cl + CH₃OD → CH₂OD + HCl (1) and CH₂OH + O₂ → HO₂ + H₂CO (2) have been determined in a discharge flow system near 1 torr pressure with detection of radical and molecular species using collision-free sampling mass spectrometry. The rate constant k₁, determined from the decay of CH₃OD in the presence of excess Cl, is (5.1 ± 1.0) × 10^?11 cm³ s^?1. This is in reasonable agreement with the only previous measurement of k₁. The CH₂OH radical was produced by reaction (1) and its reaction with O₂ was studied by monitoring the decay of the CH₂OH radical in the presence of excess O₂. The result is k₂ = (8.6 ± 2.0) × 10^?12 cm³ s^?1. Previous estimates of k₂ have differed by nearly an order of magnitude, and our value for k₂ supports the more recent high values.