Abstract. In this work, we study the kinetics of the gas-phase
reactions of hydroxyl radicals with cyclohexene oxide (CHO), 1,2-epoxyhexane (EHX), 1,2-epoxybutane (12EB), trans-2,3-epoxybutane (tEB) and cis-2,3-epoxybutane (cEB) using the relative rate technique. The experiments
were conducted at (298 ± 3) K and (760 ± 10) Torr ((1.01 ± 0.01) × 105 Pa) total pressure of synthetic air using different reference compounds in a 1080 L Quartz Reactor (QUAREC) and a 480 L Duran glass chamber. The following room temperature rate coefficients (cm3 molecule−1 s−1) were obtained: k1(OH+CHO)=(5.93±1.13)×10-12, k2(OH+EHX)=(5.77±0.83)×10-12, k3(OH+12EB)=(1.98±0.29)×10-12, k4(OH+cEB)=(1.50±0.28)×10-12 and k5(OH+tEB)=(1.81±0.33)×10-12. Except for previous studies on 1,2-epoxybutane
and cyclohexene oxide, this is, to the best of our knowledge, the first
kinetic study of the reaction of these compounds with OH radicals. We
discuss the discrepancies found between the values obtained from the present
study with values estimated from the structure–activity relationship method
(SAR). Our findings indicate that pseudo-ethylenic character in the epoxy
ring is an important factor to be included in the improvement of the SAR
estimation method. Atmospheric lifetimes, reactivity trends and atmospheric
implications are discussed considering the epoxy compound rate coefficients
obtained in the present study.