Abstract
The kinetics of the gas‐phase reactions of O~3~ with a series of selected terpenes has been investigated under flow‐tube conditions at a pressure of 100 mbar synthetic air at 295 ± 0.5 K. In the presence of a large excess of m‐xylene as an OH radical scavenger, rate coefficients k(O~3~+terpene) were obtained with a relative rate technique, (unit: cm^3^ molecule^−1^ s^−1^, errors represent 2σ): α‐pinene: (1.1 ± 0.2) × 10^−16^, ^3^Δ‐carene: (5.9 ± 1.0) × 10^−17^, limonene: (2.5 ± 0.3) × 10^−16^, myrcene: (4.8 ± 0.6) × 10^−16^, trans‐ocimene: (5.5 ± 0.8) × 10^−16^, terpinolene: (1.6 ± 0.4) × 10^−15^ and α‐terpinene: (1.5 ± 0.4) × 10^−14^. Absolute rate coefficients for the reaction of O~3~ with the used reference substances (2‐methyl‐2‐butene and 2,3‐dimethyl‐2‐butene) were measured in a stopped‐flow system at a pressure of 500 mbar synthetic air at 295 ± 2 K using FT‐IR spectroscopy, (unit: cm^3^ molecule^−1^ s^−1^, errors represent 2σ ): 2‐methyl‐2‐butene: (4.1 ± 0.5) × 10^−16^ and 2,3‐dimethyl‐2‐butene: (1.0 ± 0.2) × 10^−15^. In addition, OH radical yields were found to be 0.47 ± 0.04 for 2‐methyl‐2‐butene and 0.77 ± 0.04 for 2,3‐dimethyl‐2‐butene. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 34: 394–403, 2002