Partial Oxidation of Ethane Initiated by Irradiation of ArF Excimer Laser

Abstract

Partial oxidation of ethane was performed at moderate temperature using N₂O as a source of O(¹D) produced by ArF excimer laser irradiation. Investigated in more details was the effect of ArF excimer laser irradiation for attaining selective and high quantum yield of alcohols. In the absence of oxygen, shown in Table 1, the product selectivities for propane and butane which were presumed to be formed by the recombination of methyl and ethyl radicals, were very high. In the presence of oxygen, however, the selectivity for oxygencontaining compounds, such as alcohols, ethers and aldehydes, was increased. The chain lengthw asa lso l ongert han that in the absence of oxygen, indicating that a chainr eaction was significantly enhanced by oxygen molecules.