Near-Infrared Kinetic Spectroscopy of the HO2 and C2H5O2 Self-Reactions and Cross Reactions

The self-reactions and cross reactions of the peroxy radicals C2H5O2 and HO2 were monitored using simultaneous independent spectroscopic probes to observe each radical species. Wavelength modulation (WM) near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy was used to detect HO2, and UV absorption monitored C2H5O2. The temperature dependences of these reactions were investigated over a range of interest to tropospheric chemistry, 221-296 K. The Arrhenius expression determined for the cross reaction, k(2)(T) = (6.01(-1.47)(+1.95)) x 10(-13) exp((638 +/- 73)/T) cm(3) molecules(-1) s(-1) is in agreement with other work from the literature. The measurements of the HO2 self-reaction agreed with previous work from this lab and were not further refined.(1) The C2H5O2 self-reaction is complicated by secondary production of HO2. This experiment performed the first direct measurement of the self-reaction rate constant, as well as the branching fraction to the radical channel, in part by measurement of the secondary H2O. The Arrhenius expression for the self-reaction rate constant is k(3)(7) = (1.29(-0.27)(+0.34)) x 10(-13) exp((-23 +/- 61)/T) cm(3) molecules(-1) s(-1), and the branching fraction value is alpha = 0.28 +/- 0.06, independent of temperature. These values are in disagreement with previous measurements based on end product studies of the branching fraction. The results suggest that better characterization of the products from RO2 self-reactions are required.