Temperature dependence of the rate constant for the HO2 + BrO reaction

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/jp953193z

The rate constant for the HO₂ + BrO reaction has been measured using the turbulent flow technique with high-pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry for the detection of reactants and products. At room temperature and 100 Torr pressure, the rate constant (and the two standard deviation error limit) was determined to be (1.4 ± 0.3) × 10^-11 cm³ molecule^-1 s^-1. The temperature dependence of the rate constant was investigated between 298 and 210 K, and the data was fit to the following Arrhenius expression: (2.5 ± 0.8) × 10^-12 exp[(520 ±80)/T] cm³ molecule^-1 s^-1. Although the negative activation energy value agrees well with the current recommendation for stratospheric modeling, our absolute values for the rate constant are about a factor of 2 lower than this same recommendation.

Full text of DOI:10.1021/jp953193z

5808
J. Phys. Chem. 1996, 100, 5808-5812
Temperature Dependence of the Rate Constant for the HO2 + BrO Reaction
Matthew J. Elrod, Roger F. Meads, Jennifer B. Lipson, John V. Seeley, and Mario J. Molina*
Departments of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences and of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
ReceiVed: October 30, 1995; In Final Form: January 18, 1996X
The rate constant for the HO2 + BrO reaction has been measured using the turbulent flow technique with
high-pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry for the detection of reactants and products. At room
temperature and 100 Torr pressure, the rate constant (and the two standard deviation error limit) was determined
to be (1.4 ( 0.3) × 10-11 cm3 molecule-1 s-1. The temperature dependence of the rate constant was investigated
between 298 and 210 K, and the data was fit to the following Arrhenius expression: (2.5 ( 0.8) × 10-12
exp[(520 ( 80)/T] cm3 molecule-1 s-1. Although the negative activation energy value agrees well with the
current recommendation for stratospheric modeling, our absolute values for the rate constant are about a
factor of 2 lower than this same recommendation.
Introduction
New experimental results6-10 have suggested that reaction 4
proceeds at a substantially faster rate than had been indicated
by previous measurements,11 and may indeed play a major role
in ozone-related bromine chemistry. For example, model
calculations based on the new rate constant obtained by Poulet
et al. indicated an increase from 1.14 to 1.45% column ozone
loss at midlatitudes from bromine compounds alone.6 However,
a consensus has not yet been achieved for the room temperature
rate constant for HO2 + BrO.
Of the halogens which exist in significant quantities in the
stratosphere, bromine participates in particularly efficient cata-
lytic cycles which result in a net destruction of ozone. While
fluorine and chlorine atoms are capable of abstracting hydrogen
atoms from a number of atmospherically abundant species (thus
terminating their catalytic chains), bromine atoms abstract
hydrogen from only a few minor stratospheric components.1 In
addition, the power of bromine compounds to destroy ozone is
greatly enhanced by the following synergistic cycle with
chlorine:2
Reaction 4 might also proceed via a second channel which
is thermodynamically feasible (∆H ) -7.7 kcal mol-1):
BrO + HO2 f HBr + O3
(4a)
Br + O3 f BrO + O2
Cl + O3 f ClO + O2
(1)
(2)
(3)
Since this reaction is a chain-terminating step, even a
relatively small branching ratio would lead to substantially less
ozone depletion by bromine-containing compounds. Thus far,
however, laboratory experiments,9,12 field studies,13 and model-
ing results14 have consistently placed low upper limits (<2%)
on this channel.
BrO + ClO f Br + Cl + O2
net: 2O3 f 3O2
Despite the fact that bromine compounds are more than 2 orders
of magnitude less abundant than chlorine compounds in the
stratosphere, it has been recently estimated that such chemistry
involving bromine species is responsible for ∼25% of the ozone
loss observed during the Antarctic ozone hole event,3 and up
to 40% of the loss over the Arctic in winter.4 Important
anthropogenic sources of bromine include methyl bromide and
the halons, which are used for fumigation and fire retardation,
respectively.5
There has been recent interest in another catalytic cycle
involving bromine that was also originally suggested in 1980,
but was dismissed as unimportant because the rate constant for
reaction 4 (based on the first kinetic study of that reaction) was
too slow in the atmosphere to contribute significantly to ozone
depletion:2
As Wennberg et al. pointed out in their analysis of field data
for several important atmospheric species obtained during the
Stratospheric Photochemistry, Aerosols, and Dynamics Expedi-
tion (SPADE),15 the interpretation of the results is hindered by
uncertainties in the laboratory-measured rate constants. This
is due to the fact that most such rate constant determinations
have not been carried out at pressures and temperatures
characteristic of the lower stratosphere. In this article we
describe our investigation of the kinetics of reaction 4 conducted
at pressures near 100 Torr and at a range of temperatures
extending to those found in the lower stratosphere using a
turbulent flow tube coupled to a high-pressure chemical
ionization mass spectrometer. We have previously shown that
the turbulent flow tube technique can be used to accurately
determine the rate constants of reactions at pressures ranging
from 50 to 760 Torr and at temperatures as low as 180 K.16-18
As in our recent study of HO2 + NO (ref 19), we use a new
detection systemshigh-pressure chemical ionization mass
spectrometrysto detect many species relevant to the HO2 +
BrO reaction with high sensitivity.
Br + O3 f BrO + O2
BrO + HO2 f HOBr + O2
HOBr + hν f OH + Br
OH + O3 f HO2 + O2
(1)
(4)
(5)
(6)
Experimental Section
net: 2O3 f 3O2
A schematic of the experimental apparatus is presented in
Figure 1 and is similar to that used in our previous study of
HO2 + NO.19 The flow tube was constructed with 2.2 cm i.d.
X Abstract published in AdVance ACS Abstracts, March 1, 1996.
0022-3654/96/20100-5808$12.00/0 © 1996 American Chemical Society

Rate Constant for the HO2 + BrO Reaction
J. Phys. Chem., Vol. 100, No. 14, 1996 5809
Figure 1. Schematic of experimental apparatus.
Pyrex tubing and was 120 cm in total length. A large flow of
nitrogen carrier gas (∼50 STP L min-1) was injected at the
rear of the flow tube. The gases necessary to generate BrO
were introduced through a 10 cm long 12.5 mm diameter
sidearm located at the rear of the flow tube. HO2 was generated
in a triple-nested movable injector. The outer encasement (made
from corrugated Teflon tubing) was used so that the injector
could be moved to various injector positions without breaking
any vacuum seals, as well as to prevent ambient gases from
condensing on cold portions of the injector. A fan-shaped
Teflon device was placed at the end of the injector in order to
enhance turbulent mixing. The corona ion source was placed
between the temperature regulated flow tube and the inlet to
the quadrupole mass spectrometer. All gas flows were moni-
tored with calibrated mass flow meters. The flow tube pressure
was measured upstream of the corona ion source using a 0-1000
Torr capacitance manometer. The temperature was determined
at both the entrance and exit points of the temperature regulated
region of the flow tube using Cu-constantan thermocouples.
BrO was generated using the following reaction:
N2 mixtures were passed through a silica gel trap immersed in
a dry ice/ethanol bath to further reduce the background NO2
contribution. For this study, BrO concentrations ranged from
0.25 to 1.0 × 1011 molecule cm-3
.
HO2 was generated by the following reaction:
H + O2 + M f HO2 + M
(10)
The rate constant for reaction 10 at 100 Torr is 2.0 × 10-13
cm3 molecule-1 s-1 (ref 21). Because HO2 was introduced
through a movable injector where the corresponding concentra-
tions are ∼30 times higher than in the main flow tube, the
disproportionation reaction
HO2 + HO2 f H2O2 + O2
(11)
(k11 ) 1.8 × 10-12 cm3 molecule-1 s-1 at 100 Torr)21 is a
concern in the production of large quantities of HO2. By taking
advantage of the long lifetime of H atoms, this difficulty was
surmounted by using a nested injector which kept the hydrogen
atoms (entrained in the inner 3 mm Pyrex tube) and oxygen
molecules (entrained in the outer 6 mm Pyrex tube) separate
throughout all but the last 1 cm of the injector. The hydrogen
atoms were allowed to mix with a very large excess of O2 (5 ×
1017 molecule cm-3 inside the injector) for only about 1 ms,
allowing reaction 10 to virtually go to completion, but prevent-
ing significant recombination of HO2. Hydrogen atoms were
generated by combining a 2.5 STP L min-1 flow of helium
(99.999%) with a 0.2-5.0 STP mL min-1 flow of a 2% H2
(99.999%)/He mixture which then passed through a molecular
sieve trap immersed in liquid nitrogen and finally through a
microwave discharge produced by a Beenakker cavity operating
at 70 W. Some OH was generated by this source, but it was
adequately removed by the excess of Br2 present in the flow
tube. For reasons of convienence, absolute HO2 concentrations
were routinely determined by the titration of H atoms:
Br2 + O f BrO + Br
(7)
(k7 ) 2.0 × 10-11 cm3 molecule-1 s-1).20 Oxygen atoms were
produced by combining a 0.5 STP L min-1 flow of helium
(99.999%), which had passed through a silica gel trap immersed
in liquid nitrogen, with a 0.1-0.5 STP mL min-1 flow of a 1%
O2 (99.995%)/He mixture which then passed through a micro-
wave discharge produced by a Beenakker cavity operating at
50 W. To generate BrO, the oxygen atoms were then injected
into a sidearm and mixed with an excess of Br2 (∼1012 molecule
cm-3) in order to ensure that no oxygen atoms were introduced
into the main flow. The simultaneous generation of bromine
atoms results in insignificant loss of HO2 through reaction 8:
HO2 + Br f HBr + O2
(8)
(k8 ) 2.0 × 10-12 cm3 molecule-1 s-1 21
)
and does not affect
H + Br2 f HBr + Br
(12)
the values of the measured BrO pseudo-first-order decays.
However, this secondary reaction does lead to higher back-
ground levels of HBr. Absolute BrO concentrations were
periodically determined by the titration reaction:
(k12 ) 1.6 × 10-10 cm3 molecule-1 s-1 20
)
and the modeling of
reaction 10 and competing side reactions to determine actual
HO2 concentrations. For all conditions used in this study, HO2
concentrations were found to be at least 90% of the titrated H
atom concentrations. Direct titrations of HO2
BrO + NO f NO2 + Br
(9)
(k9 ) 2.1 × 10-11 cm3 molecule-1 s-1 21
)
and subsequent
HO2 + NO f NO2 + OH
(13)
calibration of the NO2 mass spectrometer signal. Purified NO/

5810 J. Phys. Chem., Vol. 100, No. 14, 1996
Elrod et al.
(k13 ) 8.0 × 10-12 cm3 molecule-1 s-1 19
)
were periodically
charge-transfer reactions with SF6 :
-
performed (in a manner similar to that described for BrO) to
verify the accuracy of the H + Br2 method. Although the HO2
concentrations used in this study were low enough to avoid
significant homogeneous recombination of HO2 (usually <10%
loss over the entire reaction zone [∼25 ms]), HO2 losses as
high as 40% (at 210 K) were observed at the lowest temperatures
achieved in this study. Using the extrapolated value21 for k10
at 210 K and the highest HO2 concentration (1012 molecule
cm-3) used at that temperature, the loss of HO2 from homo-
geneous recombination is predicted to be only 17%. Some of
this unexpectedly high loss might be due to wall reactions.
However, considering that the HO2 recombination is a complex-
mode reaction, extrapolation to low temperatures could well
underestimate the actual rate constant value. We are planning
to conduct additional experiments to investigate these possibili-
ties. In any case, we used the mean HO2 concentration present
in the reaction zone to determine the bimolecular rate coefficient;
for conditions typical of our experiments, modeling results
indicate that this approximation results in values accurate to
within 5% of the true rate constant. The mean HO2 concentra-
tions were determined as follows: Since the HO2 concentrations,
which were routinely titrated, were determined at the time )
initial position of the reaction zone, the actual average HO2
concentrations were lower. To correct for this, the time ) final
and time ) initial mass spectrometer signals for HO2 were used
to scale the titrated HO2 concentrations. In the low-pressure
studies of Larichev et al.9 much higher HO2 concentrations (5
× 1012 molecule cm-3) were used and similar scaling methods
were applied. Li et al.10 used even higher HO2 concentrations
(8 × 1012 molecule cm-3) and also presumably used some sort
of scaling method. HO2 concentrations used in this study ranged
from 0.5 to 2.0 × 1012 molecule cm-3. In order to insure
SF6- + BrO f SF6 + BrO-
(14)
(15)
(16)
-
SF6- + Br2 f SF6 + Br2
-
SF6- + NO2 f SF6 + NO2
The rate constant for reaction 14 has not been measured, while
the rate coefficients for reactions 15 and 16 are 5.1 × 10-10
and 1.3 × 10-10 cm3 molecule-1 s-1, respectively.22
HBr is detected as HBrF- through a fluoride transfer reaction
-
with SF6
:
SF6- + HBr f SF5 + HBrF-
(17)
The rate constant for reaction 17 is 5.0 × 10-10 cm3 molecule-1
s-1 (ref 22). HOBr is detected as SF5O- (ref 23) and HO2 is
detected as SF4O2-, presumably through multistep pathways.
-
In our previous study of HO2 + NO, we detected HO2 as O2
via a F- reagent ion chemical ionization scheme.19
For the low-temperature studies, HCFC-123 was used as a
coolant for the jacketed flowtube, and the nitrogen carrier gas
was also precooled by passing it through a copper coil immersed
in either a HCFC-123 or a liquid N2 reservoir followed by
resistive heating. The temperature was controlled in the reaction
region to within 1 K.
Results and Discussion
In our earlier work, we reported that our chemical ionization
detection scheme resulted in sensitivities of 100, 200, and 1000
ppt (at 100 Torr) for NO2, HO2, and OH, respectively.19
Although we did not carry out formal calibrations of the mass
spectrometer for the bromine species detected with this method
(Br2, BrO, HBr, HOBr), it was apparent that these species could
be detected with a similar sensitivity to that obtained for NO2.
The mass spectrometer signals for these compounds were found
to be linear over the range of concentrations used in this work.
The stated sensitivity was more than adequate for the present
work; actually, it was necessary to degrade the sensitivity of
the spectrometer (by decreasing the ion-molecule reaction time)
to allow the introduction of greater amounts of reactantsswhich
were necessary to study the relatively slow HO2 + BrO
reactionswithout inducing complications from secondary ion-
molecule processes.
Bimolecular rate constants were obtained via the usual
pseudo-first-order approximation method, using HO2 as the
excess reagent. Typical BrO decay curves as a function of
injector distance are shown in Figure 2. The first-order rate
constants obtained from fitting the BrO decay curves were
plotted against [HO2] in order to determine the bimolecular rate
constant, as shown in Figure 3. This approach for determining
bimolecular rate constants assumes that deviations from the plug
flow approximation are negligible. Under the conditions present
in our turbulent flow tube, Seeley et al.19 estimated that these
deviations result in apparent rate constants which are at most
8% below the actual values. Hence, the flow corrections were
neglected as they are smaller than the sum of the other likely
systematic errors in the measurements of gas flows, temperature,
detector signal, pressure, and absolute HO2 concentrations.
Indeed, we consider the major source of error in our experiments
to arise from the determination of [HO2] from the titration and
scaling procedures outlined above. Considering such sources
of error, we estimate that rate constants can be determined with
an accuracy of (30% (2σ).
pseudo-first-order kinetic conditions, [BrO] was kept at most
1
/
as large as [HO2].
10
Most of the chemical species relevant to this study (HO2,
BrO, HOBr, NO2, Br2, and HBr) were chemically ionized with
the SF6- reagent ion and then detected with the quadrupole mass
spectrometer. SF6- was produced in the ion source by passing
∼5 × 1012 molecule cm-3 of SF6 mixed with a large N2 flow
(10 STP L min-1) over the corona discharge. The corona ion
source consisted of a steel needle held at an electric potential
of -4 kV and a grounded 6 mm stainless steel tube counter-
electrode, which (with a ballast resistor of 100 MΩ) resulted
in a discharge current of about 30 µA. The needle body was
electrically isolated from the counterelectrode with a piece of
Pyrex tubing. In order to confine the corona ionization process
to SF6 alone and to control the ion-molecule reaction time,
another piece of Pyrex tubing (of variable length) was used to
-
direct the SF6 downstream into the main flow tube effluent.
Ions were detected with a quadrupole mass spectrometer
housed in a two-stage differentially pumped vacuum chamber.
Flow tube gases (neutrals and ions) were drawn into the front
chamber through a 0.1 mm aperture, which was held at a
potential of -130 V. The ions were focused by three lenses
constructed from 3.8 cm i.d., 4.8 cm o.d. copper gaskets. The
front chamber was pumped by a 6 in. 2400 L s-1 diffusion
pump. The gases entered the rear chamber through a skimmer
cone with a 1.2 mm orifice (held at -20 V) which was placed
∼5 cm from the front aperture. The rear chamber was pumped
by a 500 L s-1 turbomolecular pump. Once the ions passed
through the skimmer cone, they were mass filtered and detected
with a quadrupole mass spectrometer.
In the chemical ionization scheme employed here, BrO,
Br2, and NO2 are detected as their parent negative ions by

Rate Constant for the HO2 + BrO Reaction
J. Phys. Chem., Vol. 100, No. 14, 1996 5811
TABLE 1: Summary of Experimental Conditions and
Measured Rate Constants
velocity
Reynolds
number
k ( 2σ (10-11 cm3
T (K)
P (Torr)
(cm s-1
)
molecule-1 s-1
)
298
298
298
298
283
273
270
263
260
253
253
249
243
230
220
216
210
100
97
99
95
92
95
90
98
92
92
107
93
94
91
92
90
94
1375
1800
1500
1675
1450
1425
1570
1570
1900
1575
1420
1850
1740
1550
1260
1680
1500
2600
3300
2750
2700
2850
2970
3120
3400
4250
3600
3820
4350
4420
4100
3600
4970
4900
1.32 ( 0.30
1.38 ( 0.24
1.44 ( 0.30
1.50 ( 0.28
1.68 ( 0.34
1.64 ( 0.32
1.69 ( 0.32
1.66 ( 0.22
2.09 ( 0.36
2.01 ( 0.32
2.10 ( 0.40
2.33 ( 0.56
1.99 ( 0.40
2.63 ( 0.81
2.67 ( 0.46
2.55 ( 0.94
2.95 ( 0.92
TABLE 2: Comparison of Measured Rate Constants Near
Room Temperature
Figure 2. Typical set of BrO signals as a function of injector distance.
This data set was obtained under the following conditions: P ) 100
Torr; T ) 298 K, average velocity ) 1375 cm s-1; Reynolds number
) 2600.
k (10-11 cm3
techniquea
P (Torr)
molecule-1 s-1
)
ref(s)
11
MM/UV
DF-LF/EIMS
FP/UV
MM/UV
LP/UV
760
1
760
760
760
1-3
0.5
3.3
3.4
3.2
3.0
1.7b
1.3c
1.4
6,9
7
8
8
10
DF-LF/EIMS
DF-TF/CIMS
100
this work
a MM, molecular modulation; FP, flash photolysis; LP, laser pho-
tolysis; DF, discharge flow; LF, laminar flow; TF, turbulent flow; UV,
ultraviolet spectroscopy detection; EIMS, electron impact mass spec-
trometry detection; CIMS, chemical ionization mass spectrometry
detection. b With HO2 as excess reagent. c With BrO as excess reagent.
Figure 3. Typical plot of k1 as a function of [HO2]. This plot was
obtained under the same conditions as listed in Figure 2.
We performed four separate determinations of the rate
constant at 298 K (see Table 1 for a complete list of
experimental conditions and measured rate constants) and
arrived at the mean value of k ) (1.4 ( 0.3) × 10-11 cm3
molecule-1 s-1; the uncertainty represents the two standard
deviation statistical error in the data and is not an estimate of
systematic errors. Table 2 contains a comparison of all reported
rate constants for the HO2 + BrO reaction near room temper-
ature. Although our value indicates a significantly faster rate
constant than was determined in the original study of Cox and
Shepard,11 our result is about a factor of 2 lower than some of
the other recent studies and the current JPL recommended
value.21 However, the very recent low-pressure measurements
of Li et al.10 are in excellent agreement with our findings.
We performed several measurements at temperatures between
298 and 210 K in order to establish the temperature dependence
of the rate constant for conditions relevant to the lower
stratosphere. The rate constant approximately doubled as the
temperature was lowered over this range. From the data listed
Figure 4. Arrhenius plot for the reaction HO2 + BrO; the least-squares
fit to the data yields the expression k(T) ) (2.5 ( 0.8) × 10-12
exp[(520 ( 80)/T] cm3 molecule-1 s-1
.
in Table 1 and plotted in Figure 4, we obtain the Arrhenius
expression k(T) ) (2.5 ( 0.8) × 10-12 exp[(520 ( 80)/T] cm3
molecule-1 s-1. In the only other temperature dependence study
to date, Larichev et al.9 fit data ranging from 343 to 243 K to
an Arrhenius expression and obtained a similar temperature

5812 J. Phys. Chem., Vol. 100, No. 14, 1996
Elrod et al.
dependence, but a preexponential factor that was about 2 times
larger than our result. The current JPL recommendation21 for
the temperature dependence of this reaction was chosen by
analogy to the HO2 + ClO reaction, and we find the recom-
mended temperature dependence to be in good agreement with
our data. Larichev et al.9 also reported the existence of a
reproducible, non-Arrhenius data point at 233 Ksthe lowest
temperature attained in their study. The anomalously fast rate
constant determined at that temperature was tentatively ascribed
to the formation of an intermediate complex. However, we find
no such anomalous behavior in the rate constant for temperatures
as low as 210 K as shown in Figure 4. This is an important
point since the significant departure from Arrhenius behavior
observed by Larichev et al. beginning at 233 K is suggestive
of a nearly collision-limited rate constant at stratospherically
relevant temperatures. Recent attempts to constrain the rate
constant for this reaction from measurements of the OH/HO2
ratio24 and BrO and total inorganic bromine25 in the lower
stratosphere suggest a range of rate constants which are slower
than the rate constant obtained by extrapolation of the Larichev
et al. data, while our direct measurement of the rate constant
for HO2 + BrO at 210 K is easily within the range of possible
rate constants proposed to be consistent with the present
interpretation of the field data.
the partitioning of bromine species in the stratosphere and on
the ozone depletion potentials of compounds such as methyl
bromide.
Acknowledgment. This research was funded by a grant from
the Methyl Bromide Global Coalition Research Program, and
by a grant from the NASA Upper Atmosphere Research
Program.
References and Notes
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-
SF6- chemical ionization scheme yields small amounts of O3
,
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thus preventing the sensitive detection of ozone in the presence
of oxygen. In addition, the BrO source produces high levels
of bromine atoms which react with HO2 and the flow tube walls
to create relatively high background HBr signals. However,
these problems can potentially be circumvented by employing
different synthetic schemes. Nonetheless, mass spectral scans
were taken at each temperature to search for possible changes
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HOBr.
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(25) Stimpfle, R. M.; Kohn, D. W.; Wennberg, P. O.; Cohen, R. C.;
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Fahey, D. W. Manuscripts in preparation.
Conclusions
The results presented here extend the measurements of the
rate constant for HO2 + BrO to conditions representative of
the lower stratosphere. We find that the absolute value of the
rate constant is more than a factor of 2 lower than the current
JPL recommendation, although our relative temperature depen-
dence agrees well with the same recommendation. While our
room temperature results do not agree with several other
previous measurements, they are in excellent agreement with
the most recent low-pressure study by Li et al.10 Also, we do
not find evidence for non-Arrhenius behavior below 243 K, as
suggested in the previous temperature dependence study.9 In
addition, our direct measurement of the rate constant at 210 K
is in agreement with the range of rate constants that would be
consistent with field observations at the same temperature.24-25
Our direct results should place more stringent constraints on
JP953193Z