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The pyrolysis of benzonitrile
Author(s) -
Metcalfe E.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
fire and materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.482
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1099-1018
pISSN - 0308-0501
DOI - 10.1002/fam.810170106
Subject(s) - benzonitrile , hydrogen cyanide , pyrolysis , chemistry , hydrogen , benzene , kinetics , cyanide , nitrogen , reaction mechanism , photochemistry , organic chemistry , catalysis , physics , quantum mechanics
The pyrolysis of benzonitrile under nitrogen at atmospheric pressure has been studied at temperatures of 823–873 K in a flow reactor. The results demonstrate that conversion to hydrogen cyanide occurs directly by a free radical mechanism. The dominant products detected are hydrogen cyanide, monocyanodiphenyl, benzene, dicyanodiphenyl and dicyanobenzene. Reaction orders and activation energies have been determined for product formation. A reaction scheme involving three competing chain reactions in the gas phase with chain carriers H . , C 6 H 5 .and . C 6 H 4 CN is proposed to explain the observed kinetics. A mechanism is advanced for the formation of significant quantities of polymer, consistent with infra‐red spectra and elemental analysis.