Pyrolysis of the Simplest Carbohydrate, Glycolaldehyde (CHO-CH2OH), and Glyoxal in a Heated Micro-Reactor Jessica Porterfield1, Joshua H. Baraban1, Tyler P. Troy2, Musahid Ahmed2, Michael C. McCarthy3, Kathleen M. Morgan4, John W. Daily5, Thanh Lam Nguyen6, John F. Stanton6, G. Barney Ellison1 1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, 80309- 0215, U.S.A., 2Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories, Berkeley, CA 94720, U.S.A., 3Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138, 4Department of Chemistry , Xavier University of Louisiana , New Orleans, LA 70125-1098, 5Center for Combustion and Environmental Research, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0427, U.S.A., and 6Department of Chemistry; University of Texas at Austin; Austin, TX 78712. E-mail:
[email protected] E-mail:
[email protected] E-mail:
[email protected] E-mail:
[email protected] E-mail:
[email protected] E-mail:
[email protected] E-mail:
[email protected] E-mail:
[email protected] E-mail:
[email protected] Email:
[email protected] J. Physical Chemistry A (revised, March 2016) - 2 - Abstract Both glycolaldehyde and glyoxal have been pyrolyzed in a set of flash- pyrolysis micro-reactors. The pyrolysis products resulting from CHO-CH2OH and HCO-CHO were detected and identified by VUV photoionization mass spectrometry. Complementary product identification was provided by argon matrix infrared absorption spectroscopy. Pyrolysis pressures in the micro- reactor were roughly 100 Torr and contact times with the micro-reactors were approximately 100 µsec. At 1200 K, the products of glycolaldehyde pyrolysis are: H atoms, CO, CH2=O, CH2=C=O, HCO-CHO.