Photochemistry of the chlorine monofluoride, ClF. Thermal and photochemical reactions with sulfur tetrafluoride SF4

The thermal and photochemical reactions of chlorine monofluoride have been studied with xenon, perfluoroethane O2F6, and sulfur tetrafluoride, SF4, which had been considered as possible scavengers for the excited or unstable species. No reaction has been observed with Xe and O2F6 either under thermal or photochemical activation. Photochemical reaction of ClF with SF4 has been studied at several wavelengths with a cw laser. From these studies, two reaction paths have been emphasized: (1) the molecular addition of ClF* to SF4 to give sulfur chloropentafluoride SF5Cl and (2) a typical laser induced radical process yielding disulfur decafluoride S2F10 and chlorine Cl2. This former effect has been shown to be hidden at low mean power irradiation by the thermal reaction which seems to be dramatically enhanced at low pressure by wall-catalyzed processes.