In her opening lecture at 38th International Symposium on Combustion in late January 2021, Prof. Katherina Kohse-Hoinghaus featured KMLabs' Hyperion VUV light source as one of the three promising combustion technologies.
This technology was first described in detail by researchers at KMLabs, CU Boulder and JILA in Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1540748920302194.
With the unique technical advantages and features of Hyperion VUV, the variety of photon energies available allowed the researchers to detect the keto-enol tautomerization of four aldehydes and ketones. By combining this novel VUV light source with an established microreactor, the researchers first revisited the formation of vinyl alcohol from acetaldehyde and confirmed that the observed isomerization was indeed unimolecular. Secondly, they observed the thermal tautomerization of acetone to propen-2-ol for the first time. Finally, the thermal tautomerization of cyclohexanone to 1-cyclohexenol and methyl vinyl ketone to 2-hydroxybutadiene were observed, where the results were in good agreement with those reported at a synchrotron.
These measurements can be used to constrain models, inform future experimental studies of enol reactivity, and potentially enhance current understanding of combustion and environmental chemistry.
To learn more about Hyperion VUV, please see the following publications also,
https://www.osapublishing.org/optica/fulltext.cfm?uri=optica-7-7-832&id=433461
https://www.osapublishing.org/abstract.cfm?uri=CLEO_SI-2020-SW4H.5
