The thermal decomposition of CF3H has been studied between 1200deg; and 1600deg;K behind reflected shock waves in a singlehyphen;pulse shock tube. The principal reaction products are found to be tetrafluoroethylene and hydrogen fluoride. This fact, coupled with thermochemical considerations, suggests that the primary process in the pyrolysis of fluoroform is CF3Hrarr;CF2+HF. The observed activation energy,Eobs=63 kcal/mole, is lower than the heat of the reaction which is 75 kcal/mole if a ``reasonable'' value for the heat of formation of the CF2biradical, Dgr;Hfdeg;(CF2)=minus;24 kcal/mole, is used. The reasons for this are discussed, and it is suggested that under present reaction conditions, the unimolecular decomposition may be in the falloff region.
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