EFFICIENCY OF FORMATION OF CH3O IN THE REACTION OF CH3O2 WITH CLO

A discharge-flow apparatus was used to determine the branching ratio a for the channel of the reaction of ClO with CH3O2 that leads to the formation of CH3O. The experiments were performed at 2 Torr pressure and at room temperature. ClO was the excess reactant and was measured mass spectrometrically; CH3O was detected by laser-induced fluorescence. The value of a was shown to depend on the fraction beta of the reaction of CH3O2 with Cl atoms that leads to the formation of CH3O. For beta = 0, 0.5 and 1, the derived values of alpha are 0.28 +/- 0.07, 0.32 +/- 0.08 and 0.42 +/- 0.09, respectively. Comparison with other published results suggests the possibility of three significant product channels for the reaction of CH3O2 with ClO.