Shock Tube Measurement of the High-Temperature Rate Constant for OH + CH3 → Products

The reaction between hydroxyl (OH) and methyl radicals (CH,) is critical to hydrocarbon oxidation. Motivated by the sparseness of its high-temperature rate constant data and the large uncertainties in the existing literature values, the current study has remeasured the overall rate constant of the OH + CH3 reaction and extended the measurement temperature range to 1214-1933 K, using simultaneous laser absorption diagnostics for OH and CH3 radicals behind incident and reflected shock waves. ten-Butyl hydroperoxide and azomethane were used as pyrolytic sources for the OH and CH3 radicals, respectively. The current study bridged the temperature ranges of existing experimental data, and good agreement is seen between the current measurement and some previous experimental and theoretical high-temperature studies. A recommendation for the rate constant expression of the title reaction, based on the weighted average of the high-temperature data from selected studies, is given by k(1) = 4.19 X 10(1)(T/K)(3.15) exp(5270 K/T) cm(3) mol(-1) s(-1) +/- 30%, which is valid over 1000-2500 K