Synthesis of peroxyacetyl nitrate in air by acetone photolysis
The photodecomposition of acetone in air with NO 2 admixed has been used to generate peroryacetyl nitrate (PAN) either by batch synthesis in an isolated flask or in a continuous-flow reactor. With NO 2 mixing ratios near 10 ppm, the method converts in the first case 88% of NO 2 to PAN and ∼6% to methyl nitrate within a time period of a few minutes. In the second case, the conversion is ∼90% and 10%, respectively. The reproducibility is better than 5%. The PAN mixing ratio produced by batch synthesis declines exponentially with time due to wall-catalyzed thermal decomposition