chemical physics of discharges - Argonne National Laboratory

Under propran carried on at the.Research Institute of Temple Uni ersity for
the Clidder. Company the reactions Of terpenes in a plasma jet were studied r ?O). The
reactions shown above were investipated by use of the apparatus showed schematically
in ripure 13. A 1 1 experimental data were obtained usinr a helium plasma jet where the
terpene was added in a liquid state into the helium plasma flame. The products were
analyzed by rems of chranatipraphic absorption. The most productive synthesis was the
conversion of bpinene to mvrcene in 26% yield (reaction 1). Although this is a normal'
Dyrolsis product of A-pinene it is the first time that a complicated'molecuje has been \
croducsd. hy yeans of a nlasma iet. Other reactions included the preparation of limonene,
frorn ,>-ainene in 1% conversion a nd para-cymene
yield fmr? ;y-terninene (reactions 2 to Q).
in 2 1/29. yield and *-pinene in 2 1/2%
SUMMARY -
The cheTica1 reactions discussed above summarize the synthesises that have
been accorolished thus far using a plasma jet device and are by no means all the
synthesises studied using a plasma iet. The plasma jet has shown itself to be a useful'
tool in the area of synthesis of corpounds and has moved from the preparation of simple
materials to more canplex ones recently, With the ever increasing number of investiga- \
tions heing carried out by private industry, there is no doubt that the plasna let
will becone a cmnercial chemical nmcess device. Its potential has been just touched
and with each new use a whole field of investipation is onencd. \.
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