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Inhibition of the Formation of 3,4-Benzpyrene during Hydrocarbon Combustion

Abstract

IT is well known that polycyclic hydrocarbons including the carcinogen 3,4-benzpyrene occur in association with the carbonaceous deposits or smokes resulting from the incomplete combustion of a wide variety of organic materials. Thus 3,4-benzpyrene has been identified in soots, carbon black, certain smoked foods, cigarette- and tobacco-smoke and in the exhaust smoke of Diesel engines. The mode of formation of 3,4-benzpyrene has been reviewed by Badger et al.1, who have suggested possible intermediates during the pyrolysis of organic compounds, and have pointed out that the observed products can be accounted for by secondary reactions involving initial or primary free radicals. A recent examination of the products from the pyrolysis of petroleum hydrocarbons by electron spin resonance supports the view that free radicals participate; the phenalenyl radical2 has been identified.

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LONG, R., RAY, S. Inhibition of the Formation of 3,4-Benzpyrene during Hydrocarbon Combustion. Nature 192, 353–354 (1961). https://doi.org/10.1038/192353a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/192353a0

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