A kinetic study of the gas phase reaction between trimethylsilane and methyl chloride

The kinetics of the gas phase reaction between trimethylsilane and methyl chloride have been investigated between 429 and 494° in packed and unpacked quartz vessels. Methane and trimethylchlorosidane are the only products formed in substantial quantity, and the results are consistent with their bcing produced in a radical chain reaction propagated in the gas phase with heterogeneous initiation and termination. It is suggested that in the packed vessel initiation is by dissociative desorption of trimethylsilane from singly-occupied surface sites, but in the unpacked vessel a more complex initiation mechanism appears to operate, and it is tentatively suggested that methyl chloride is dissociatively adsorbed, the chlorine atom then reacts with adsorbed trimethylsilane at the surface, and a dimethylchiorosilane molecule and a methyl radical are finally desorbed into the gas phase.