Photolysis of CH4NH3H2O mixture: formation of methylamine and ethylenediamine

Abstract

Abstract The photolysis of the mixture CH 4 NH 3 H 2 O was performed with a low pressure mercury lamp at 100 °C and atmospheric pressure. Of the products, the major nitrogen-containing compounds were methylamine and ethylenediamine; the maximum selectivity of the two amines exceeded 99% in the mol per cent of N-containing products. The other products were methanol, ethane and hydrogen, but the formation of methanol and ethane decreased rapidly with an increase in the amount of added ammonia. This was attributed to the preferential reactivity of methyl radicals with NH 2 rather than with OH and/or CH 3 . The formation rates of NH 2 , CH 3 NH 2 and NH 2 C 2 H 4 NH 2 are discussed.