Production of Vibrationally Excited Carbon Monoxide by the Reaction of Oxygen Atoms with Acetylene, Methylacetylene, and Methane

Infrared chemiluminescence attributed to the first overtone of CO was observed when either C2H2 or was introduced into a stream of oxygen which had been passed through a microwave discharge. The addition of vibrationally cold CO to these systems was found to produce a vibrational population inversion in the chemically formed CO. CO first overtone emission was not observed when CH4 was introduced into a similar stream of oxygen unless the CH4 had been subjected to a microwave discharge. These observations are used to clarify the mechanisms governing the formation of CO in continuous wave air–helium–hydrocarbon electrical discharge lasers.