Mike Pilling

Research section: Physical Chemistry

KEYWORDS Atmospheric chemistry Combustion Interstellar chemistry Chemical kinetics Laser flash photolysis Modelling elementary reactions Modelling complex reactions

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Mike's research interests centre on fundamental chemical kinetics and applications in atmospheric chemistry and combustion.

Experimental measurements of the rates of elementary reactions are made using laser flash photolysis, coupled with a range of laser based techniques to probe the behaviour of short lived species in the gas phase. The combustion applications involve short-lived species such as CH₂, while OH and peroxy radicals are studied because of their importance in atmospheric chemistry. Models of these reactions are constructed using quantum theory and a master equation technique to enable us to understand the mechanisms and to extrapolate from the lab to the conditions of applications. A new code, MESMER, has been developed to carry out master equation calculations. A recently developed project involves the investigation of non-statistical kinetics in reactions of organic compounds in solution.

We also develop models of complex chemistry and apply them to help us to understand atmospheric field experiments and measurements that we conduct in atmospheric reactors in Leeds and in Valencia, Spain. The work has led to the development of the master chemical mechanism (MCM), that is widely used in atmospheric chemical modeling.

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MCM        Photographs from Mike's 60th birthday   

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

A network for interstellar CO - the first application of objective reduction techniques un astrochemistry. D.P.Ruffle, J.G.L.Rae, M.J.Pilling, T.W.Harquist and E Herbst, Astron and Astrophys, 2002, 381, L13-L16

Eperimental rate measurements for NS + NO, O₂ + NO₂ and electronic structure calculations of the reaction paths for NS + NO₂, M. Blitz, K.W.McKee, M J Pilling, M.A.Vincent amd I.J. Hillier, J Phys Chem, 2002, 106, 8406-8410

OH formatio from CH₃CO + O₂: a convenient experimental marker for the acetyl radical. M.A.Blitz, D.E.Heard and M.J.Pilling, Chem Phys Letters, submitted, 2002 365(5-6) 374, 279

The Eastern Atlantic Spring Experiment 1997 (EASE97): 2. Comparisons of model concentrations of OH, HO₂ and RO₂ with measurements. N. Carslaw, D.J. Creasey, D.E. Heard, P.J.Jacobs, J.D.Lee, A.C. Lewis, J.B. McQuaid, M.J. Pilling, S Bauguitte, S.A. Penkett, P.S. Monks, G. Salisbury. J Geophys Res, 2002, 107(D14), 4190