Abstract
It is generally agreed that it is the metallic radicle of an organometallic antiknock compound that is mainly responsible for the delaying of the oxidation of a combustible mixture. That the metal atom is in an oxidised state before it becomes effective, was an inference made on the basis of many different experimental facts, for example, the behaviour of potassium vapour,1 but it has not been proved directly. We have recently been able to show that a small quantity of lead tetraethyl vapour, when let into an evacuated vessel heated to 265°C. into which a charge of pentane vapour and oxygen is afterwards introduced, will not affect the course of the combustion to any great extent, and may even accelerate it, but that if some oxygen is let into the vessel before the lead tetraethyl vapour, and then this followed by the bulk of the charge, the combustion is invariably strongly inhibited. These experiments provide direct evidence that the lead must first be oxidised before it is effective as an inhibitor. It is possible that the accelerating effect is due to the C2H5 radicles which help to start reaction chains, but that has yet to be proven.
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See Egerton and Gates, J. Inst. Petm. Tech., 13, 244; 1927.
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EGERTON, A., PIDGEON, L. The Behaviour of Antiknocks. Nature 127, 591 (1931). https://doi.org/10.1038/127591b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/127591b0
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