Oxidation of small unsaturated methyl and ethyl esters

The ignition delay times were measured behind reflected shock waves for temperatures from 1280 to 1930 K, pressures from of 7–9.65 atm, fuel concentrations of 0.4, 0.5, and 1%, and equivalence ratios equal to 0.25, 1.0, and 2.0 in the cases of four unsaturated esters: methyl crotonate, methyl acrylate, ethyl crotonate, and ethyl acrylate. Ignition delay times were measured using chemiluminescence emission from OH at 306 nm and piezoelectric pressure measurements made at the shock tube sidewall. No important difference of reactivity was observed between methyl and ethyl unsaturated esters, methyl and ethyl crotonate having the same reactivity as methyl butanoate. The reactivity of acrylates is greater than that of crotonates especially at the lowest investigated temperatures. Detailed mechanisms for the combustion of the four studied unsaturated esters have been automatically generated using the version of EXGAS software recently improved to take into account this class of oxygenated reactants. These mechanisms have been validated through satisfactory comparison of simulated and experimental results. The main reaction pathways have been derived from flow rate and sensitivity analyses. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 43: 204–218, 2011