Deuterium enrichment by selective photo-induced dissociation of an organic carbonyl compound
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy
InventorJohn B. Marling
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Abstract
A method for producing a deuterium enriched material by photoinduced dissociation which uses as the working material a gas phase photolytically dissociable organic carbonyl compound containing at least one hydrogen atom bonded to an atom which is adjacent to a carbonyl group and consisting of molecules wherein said hydrogen atom is present as deuterium and molecules wherein said hydrogen atom is present as another isotope of hydrogen. The organic carbonyl compound is subjected to intense infrared radiation at a preselected wavelength to selectively excite and thereby induce dissociation of the deuterium containing species to yield a deuterium enriched stable molecular product. Undissociated carbonyl compound, depleted in deuterium, is preferably redeuterated for reuse.
Claims13
A method for producing a deuterium enriched material by selective photo-induced dissociation which comprises:
- providing a gas phase photolytically dissociable organic carbonyl compound containing at least one hydrogen atom bonded to an atom which is adjacent to a carbonyl group and consisting of molecules wherein said hydrogen atom is present as deuterium and molecules wherein said hydrogen atom is present as another isotope of hydrogen;
- subjecting the gas phase organic carbonyl compound to infrared radiation at a preselected wavelength and of sufficient intensity to selectively excite and induce dissociation of said deuterium containing molecules, thereby providing a deuterium enriched molecular dissociation product, the non-excited molecules remaining substantially undissociated;
- and
- recovering the deuterium enriched molecular dissociation product.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.