The Reaction of Unsaturated Aliphatic Oxygenates with Ozone

Abstract

The reaction of ozone with unsaturated aliphatic oxygenates has been studied at ambient T (287–297 K) and p = 1 atm. of air (RH = 55 ± 10%) with sufficient cyclohexane added to scavenge the hydroxyl radical. Reaction rate constants, in units of 10-18 cm3 molecule-1 s-1, are 10.7 ± 1.4 for methyl trans-3-methoxy acrylate, 63.7 ± 9.9 for 4-hexen-3-one (predominantly the trans isomer), 125 ± 17 for trans-4-methoxy-3-buten-2-one, ≥148 ± 13 for cis-4-heptenal, ≥439 ± 37 for 3- methyl-2-buten-1-ol and ≥585 ± 132 for (cis + trans)-ethyl 1-propenyl ether. The influence of the oxygen-containing substituents on reactivity toward ozone is examined. Unsaturated ethers react with ozone faster than their alkene structural homologues; the reverse is observed for unsaturated esters and unsaturated carbonyls. Major reaction products have been identified by liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection (LC-UV), particle beam-mass spectrometry (PB- MS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and are methyl formate and methyl glyoxylate from methyl trans-3-methoxy acrylate, acetaldehyde and 2-oxobutanal from 4-hexen-3-one, propanal and succinic dialdehyde from cis-4-heptenal, hydroxyacetaldehyde and acetone from 3-methyl-2-buten-1-ol, and ethyl formate and acetaldehyde from (cis + trans)-ethyl 1-propenyl ether. PB-MS and GC- MS were also employed to identify new reaction products and to confirm the structure of products tentatively identified in a previous study of the reaction of ozone with five unsaturated oxygenates (Grosjean and Grosjean, 1997a): formic acid and methyl glyoxylate from methyl acrylate, formic acid and formic acetic anhydride from vinyl acetate, 2-oxoethyl acetate and 3-oxopropyl acetate from cis-3-hexenyl acetate, ethyl formate and formic acid from ethyl vinyl ether, and methyl formate from trans-4-methoxy-3- buten-2-one. The nature and formation yields of the reaction products are consistent with (and supportive of) the reaction mechanism: O3 + R1R2C=CR3X → α(R1COR2 + R3C(X)OO) + (1 - α)(R3COX + R1C(R2)OO), where R1, R2 and R3 = H or alkyl, X is the oxygen-containing substituent, R1COR2 and R3COX are the primary products and R1C(R2)OO and R3C(X)OO are the carbonyl oxide biradicals. The variations of the coefficient α, which ranges from 0.25 to 0.61, are discussed in terms of the number and nature of alkyl and oxygen-containing substituents. Subsequent reactions of the alkyl-substituted biradicals R1C(R2)OO and of the biradicals R3C(X)OO that bear the oxygen-containing substituent are discussed. For the biradical CH3CHOO, the ratio ka/kb for the competing pathways of rearrangement to acetic acid (CH3CHOO → CH3C(O)OH, reaction (a) and formation of an unsaturated hydroperoxide (CH3CHOO → CH2=CH(OOH), reaction (b) is 99.9%) and comparable to that for formaldehyde (98.4%) for formic acetic anhydride and for difunctional oxygenated compounds. Uptake in water impingers was lower (19–78%) for monofunctional aldehydes and ketones.