Kinetics and mechanism for the reactions of H atoms with CH3SH and C2H5SH

A kinetic study of the reactions of H atoms with CH3SH and C2H5SH has been carried out at 298 K by the discharge flow technique with EPR and mass spectrometric analysis of the species. The pressure was 1 torr. It was found: k1 = (2.20 ± 0.20) × 10−12 for the reaction H + CH3SH (1) and k2 = (2.40 ± 0.16) × 10−12 for the reaction H + C2H5SH (2). Units are cm3 molecule−1 s−1. A mass spectrometric analysis of the reaction products and a computer simulation of the reacting systems have shown that reaction (1) proceeds through two mechanisms leading to the formation of CH3S + H2 (1a) and CH3 + H2S (1b).