Kinetics of the reactions of fluorine and chlorine atoms with ethylene oxide (oxirane)

The kinetics of the reactions of F and C1 atoms with ethylene oxide have been studied using relative rate techniques in 10–700 Torr of either nitrogen or air diluent at 295 ± 2 K; k(F + C₂H₄O) = (9.4 ± 1.6) × 10^?11 and k(C1 + C₂H₄O) = (5.0 ± 0.9) × 10^?12 cm³ molecule^?1 s^?1. The result for k(F + C₂H₄O) is in good agreement with the literature data. The result for k(C1 + C₂H₄O) is a factor of 5.6 lower than that reported previously. It seems likely that in the previous study most of the loss of C₂H₄O attributed to reaction with C1 atoms was actually caused by unwanted secondary reactions leading to an overestimate of k(C1 + C₂H₄O). © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 34: 122–125, 2002