Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Gas-phase chemical kinetics

Three is the magic number

Although predicted many years ago, chemically reactive termolecular reactions were thought to be unimportant in defining the behaviour of combustion systems. Now, calculations have shown that such reactions between radicals and long-lived bimolecular complexes can actually play an important role in hydrogen combustion.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: A schematic diagram showing the kinetic processes involving the reaction of the transient HO2** species.

References

  1. Kéromnès, A. et al. Combust. Flame 160, 995–1011 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Konnov, A. A. Combust. Flame 152, 507–528 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Burke, M. P. & Klippenstein, S. J. Nat. Chem. 9, 1078–1082 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Skodje, R. T. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 1206–1209 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Harrich, S. A. et al. Nature 419, 281–284 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Pilling, M. J. & Seakins, P. W. Reaction Kinetics (Oxford Univ. Press, 1996).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Hinshelwood, C. N. & Williamson, A. T. The Reaction between Hydrogen and Oxygen (Oxford Univ. Press, 1934).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rex T. Skodje.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Skodje, R. Three is the magic number. Nature Chem 9, 1038–1039 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2880

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2880

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing