Abstract: | The unimolecular decomposition of methyl nitrite in the temperature range 680–955 K and pressure range 0.64 to 2.0 atm has been studied in shock-tube experiments employing real-time absorption of CW CO laser radiation by the NO product. Computer kinetic modeling using a set of 23 reactions shows that NO product is relatively unreactive. Its initial rate of production can be used to yield directly the unimolecular rate constant, which in the fall-off region, can be represented by the second-order rate coefficient in the Arrhenius form: A RRKM model calculation, assuming a loose CH3ONO≠ complex with two degrees of free internal rotation, gives good agreement with the experimental rate constants. |