Abstract
RECENTLY, Axford and Norrish1 have put forward a scheme for the oxidation of gaseous formaldehyde in the temperature range 325°–375° C. Though this scheme accounts for the experimental facts, we regard the proposed initiation reactions as unsatisfactory, for they suggest that formaldehyde is oxidized directly to formic acid, whereas it is highly probable that this does not take place in a single step. Our recent experiments on the oxidation of gaseous acetaldehyde2 have led us to propose as an initiation process the reaction of an oxygen molecule with an acetaldehyde molecule to form the acetyl radical and the perhydroxyl radical (HO2). If an analogous initiation reaction is postulated for the oxidation of formaldehyde, we have
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References
Axford, D. W. E., and Norrish, R. G. W., Nature, 160, 537 (1947); Proc. Roy. Soc., A, 192, 518 (1947).
McDowell, C. A., and Thomas, J. H. (unpublished experiments).
Akeroyd, E. I., and Norrish, R. G. W., J. Chem. Soc., 890 (1936).
Leermakers, J. A., J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 56, 1537 (1934).
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MCDOWELL, C., THOMAS, J. Mechanism of the Oxidation of Gaseous Formaldehyde. Nature 162, 367 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/162367a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/162367a0
