Kinetics of OH reactions with N2H4, CH3NHNH2 and (CH3)2NNH2 in the gas phase

The gas phase reaction kinetics of OH with three di‐amine rocket fuels—N₂H₄, CH₃NHNH₂, and (CH₃)₂NNH₂—was studied in a discharge flow tube apparatus and a pulsed photolysis reactor under pseudo‐first‐order conditions in OH]. Direct laser‐induced fluorescence monitoring of the OH] temporal profiles in a known excess of the diamine] yielded the following absolute second‐order OH rate coefficient expressions; k₁ = (2.17 ± 0.39) × 10^?11 e^(160±30)/T, k₂ = (4.59 ± 0.83) × 10^?11 e^(85±35)/T and k₃ = (3.35 ± 0.60) × 10^?11 e^(175±25)/T cm³ molec^?1 s^?1, respectively, for reactions with N₂H₄, CH₃NHNH₂ and (CH₃)₂NNH₂ in the temperature range 232–637 K. All three reactions did not show any discernable pressure dependence on He or N₂ buffer gas pressure of up to 530 torr. The magnitude of the weak temperature and the lack of pressure effects of the OH + N₂H₄ reaction rate coefficient suggest that a simple direct metathesis of H‐atom may not be important compared to addition of the OH to one of the N‐centers of the diamine skeleton, followed by rapid dissociation of the intermediate into products. Our findings on this reaction are qualitatively consistent with a previous ab initio study 3 ]. However, in the alkylated diamines, direct H‐abstraction from the methyl moiety cannot be completely ruled out. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 33: 354–362, 2001