Kinetic study of the Cu(2S) atom reaction with chlorine (1Σg+) at 305–809 K

A kinetic study of the reaction of Cu(4 2S)+ Cl2 [graphic omitted] CuCl(X 1Σ)+ Cl(2P) has been performed in the temperature range 305–809 K. The measurements are carried out in a fast-flow reactor in which the ground-state copper atoms are generated by the microwave-induced plasma afterglow atomisation technique. Atomic absorption spectroscopy at 324.7 nm is used as the detection technique. From the temperature dependence of k2 the Arrhenius expression k2=(3.3 ± 1.1)× 10–10 exp(–2.2 ± 0.4 kJ mol–1/RT) can be derived. This result is discussed in the light of the electron-jump or harpooning mechanism.