The Reaction of Active Nitrogen with Carbonyl Chloride

Abstract

The reaction between active nitrogen and COCl2 in an unheated reaction vessel has been studied over a large range of initial reactant conditions. Analytical studies have shown CO and Cl2 to be the only reaction products, effectively produced in equal amounts. The maximum extent of reaction corresponded to no more than 10% of the available N atoms. The reaction was found to change from first order in both N and COCl2 for [COCl2]0/[N]0 < ~0.1, to zero order in COCl2 and second order in N, with [COCl2]0/[N]0 > ~0.3. The reaction appears to be initiated by energy transfer from an excited N2 species.