Photolysis of Methane by Vacuumhyphen;Ultraviolet Light

摘要

Methane photolysis with light of wavelength down to 1050 Aring; has shown that product propane does not result from reaction of the ethane that is produced. The distribution of products is very similar to the distribution found in the radiolysis of methane. This result indicates that both photolysis and radiolysis of methane proceeds mainly by a freehyphen;radical process and/or by reactions of excited molecules, rather than by reactions of ions. A mechanism involving insertion of the ethylidene radical is proposed to account for the results.