Professor Sidney W. Benson is supported by a grant from the Theoretical and Computational Chemistry Program to study the thermodynamics and kinetics of atom-radical and radical-radical reactions. The results of this research should provide important input for modeling hydrocarbon combustion and atmospheric chemistry. Benson will employ the Very Low Pressure Reactor (VLPR) technique to invistigate the kinetics of the reaction of alkyl radicals with oxygen over a wide range of temperatures. Sufficient data will be collected on these reactions to distinguish between an addition mechanism and a metathesis mechanism. In addition the kinetics of atom-radical reactions involving halocarbenes will be studied. These halocarbenes are formed in various radical reactions involving atomic chlorine with halogenated hydrocarbon free radicals.
