Hot atom reactions involving multivalent and univalent species. Progress report, February 1977--January 1978

The study on the relative reactivities of conjugated 1,3-butadiene and pentadienes towards 31SiF2 was completed, and a similar study on the relative reactivities of these conjugated dienes towards silylene, 31SiH2 was made. In the latter case, experiments with the use of varying amounts of NO have indicated that the ratio of singlet to triplet 31SiH2 formed in the recoil 31Si system is about 1:6. The large difference in reactivity between trans- and cis-pentadienes which has been observed for triplet 31SiF2 is absent in the case of 31SiH2, mainly because triplet 31SiF2 is absent in the case of 31SiH2, mainly because triplet 31SiH2 is expected to react as a free entity instead of a bulky 31SiH2-donating complex. Other studies include: (i) the synthesis of 2-methylsilacyclopent-3-ene by the copyrolysis method for calibration; (ii) a temperature variation study of the 31SiF2 competition reaction to identify the major controlling parameter; (iii) the identification of 1,2,3-pentatriene as the last unknown product in recoil 11C reactions with 1,3-butadiene; (iv) a detailed moderator study on the recoil 11C reactions with 1,3-butadiene system to obtain information about energetics of the product formation processes; (v) the completion of the moderator effect study on the recoil 32P reactions with PF3-PH3 mixture; (vi) the completion of an review article on the recoil tritium reactions with organic compounds; and (vii) the construction of an ''effluent combustion'' type radio-gas chromatography set-up and the demonstration of its use to the study of carbohydrate transport and metabolism in plants