Kinetics and mechanism of the gas-phase reaction of O(3P) atoms with acetone

The kinetics of the reaction of O(³P) atoms with acetone were investigated using fast flow methods. The reaction was studied over a temperature range of 298 to 478°K. The specific rate constant obtained was (1.9 ± 0.4) × 10¹² exp(—5040 ± 180/1.987 T) cm³/mol·sec. The observation of a sizable primary H/D kinetic isotope effect in comparing rates of CH₃COCH₃ and CD₃COCD₃ led to the conclusion that the major reaction channel involves H atom abstraction, namely, The rather low Arrhenius preexponential factor obtained in this reaction is compared and contrasted with those reported for other reactions of O(³P) with low molecular weight compounds.