Catalysis and inhibition of a homogeneous gas reaction the influence of nitric oxide on the decomposition of diethyl ether

Abstract

A fair number of examples of homogeneous catalysis of gaseous reactions are now known, but no comprehensive generalizations about them are yet possible, except perhaps that the catalyst always permits a reaction with a lower activation energy and a simpler activation mechanism to replace the normal reaction. Nitric oxide is known to catalyse the decomposition of nitrous oxide, of acetaldehyde and of chloral, and the experiments to be described were begun with the object of investigating systematically which types of reaction are subject to the influence of this catalyst. Certain regularities have been observed in the types of organic decomposition reaction which are catalysed by iodine. Diethyl ether, for example, reacts as follows: C 2 H 5 . O. C 2 H 5 → C 2 H 6 + CH 3 CHO → C 2 H 6 + CH 4 + CO, (1) and the first experiments were made to see whether nitric oxide would provoke an analogous reaction.