Mass spectroscopic observation of shock-induced chemistry in liquid CS2

We have observed, via time-of-flight mass spectrometry, 13 chemical species more massive than CS2 produced by shocking liquid CS2 to very high pressure/temperature. The stoichiometry of three of these species is uniquely determined from the 12CS2 experiments; these species are C2S2, C3S2, and C4S2. The stoichiometry of the other 10 structures cannot be uniquely determined from 12CS2 experiments. However, by redoing the experiments using isotopically labeled CS2 (i.e., 13CS2), we determined the stoichiometry of nine of the remaining structures. The nine structures are Sn (n = 3-8) and CS3, C2S5, and C4S6. A structure with mass 297.1 amu was also observed in the 12CS2 experiments but was not detected in the 13CS2 experiments. This structure must be C6S7, C14S4, or C22S; given the low carbon content of the other observed carbon species, it is probably C6S7. The shockwaves to which the CS2 molecules were subjected were produced by the detonation of high mass-density solid explosives. The explosives used were either a plastic bonded form of cyclotetramethlylene tetranitramine or pure hexanitrostilbene. Numerical compressible fluid-mechanical simulations were done to estimate the pressures, temperatures, and time scales of the processes that occurred in the shocked CS2. The results obtained in the present experiments are related to earlier work on CS2's chemical reactivity that used both shockwave methods and static techniques to produce very high pressure.