J. Chem. Sci. Vol. 128, No. 4, April 2016, pp. 573–588. c Indian Academy of Sciences. DOI 10.1007/s12039-016-1046-8 Kinetics of the thermal decomposition of tetramethylsilane behind the reflected shock waves between 1058 and 1194 K A PARANDAMAN and B RAJAKUMAR∗ Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600 036, India e-mail:
[email protected] MS received 16 September 2015; revised 31 December 2015; accepted 4 January 2016 Abstract. Thermal decomposition of tetramethylsilane (TMS) diluted in argon was studied behind the reflected shock waves in a single pulse shock tube (SPST) in the temperature range of 1058–1194 K. The major products formed in the decomposition are methane (CH4) and ethylene (C2H4); whereas ethane and propy- lene were detected in lower concentrations. The decomposition of TMS seems to be initiated via Si-C bond scission by forming methyl radicals (CH3) and trimethylsilyl radicals ((CH3)3Si). The total rate coefficients obtained for the decomposition of TMS were fit to Arrhenius equation in two different temperature regions 1058–1130 K and 1130–1194 K. The temperature dependent rate coefficients obtained are ktotal (1058–1130 K) 18 −1 −1 6 = (4.61 ± 0.70) ×10 exp (−(79.9 kcal mol ± 3.5)/RT) s ,ktotal (1130-1194 K) = (1.33 ± 0.19) ×10 exp −1 −1 (−(15.3 kcal mol ± 3.5)/RT) s . The rate coefficient for the formation of CH4 is obtained to be kmethane (1058–1194 K) = (4.36 ± 1.23) ×1014 exp (−(61.9 kcal mol−1 ± 4.9)/RT) s−1.