This work investigates the pyrolysis
of n-butylbenzene, which widely exists in transportation
fuels and their surrogate mixtures. Both reactive and stable pyrolysis
products were comprehensively detected with synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet
photoionization mass spectrometry. Their mole fractions versus temperature
were also evaluated at 30, 150, and 760 Torr. A kinetic model of n-butylbenzene pyrolysis was developed, and new data were
used to validate the model. On the basis of the modeling analysis,
the benzylic C–C bond dissociation that forms the benzyl radical
and the propyl radical was found to be a key decomposition reaction
of n-butylbenzene at all investigated pressures,
whereas H abstraction provided increasing contributions with increasing
pressure. Compared with small alkylbenzenes, such as toluene and ethylbenzene, n-butylbenzene demonstrates different pyrolysis characteristics
and chemistry because of the existence of its long alkyl side chain. n-Butylbenzene has a higher pyrolysis reactivity and lower
decomposition temperature regions, which inhibit the further decomposition
of the benzyl radical and the formation of highly unsaturated C2–C4 products. As a result, conventional
combination reactions between aromatic radicals and highly unsaturated
C2–C4 species are only minor formation
pathways for indene and naphthalene in n-butylbenzene
pyrolysis, while fuel-specific pathways become crucial instead. Furthermore,
combination reactions involving the benzyl radical and the phenyl
radical are crucial for the formation of many PAHs, especially phenanthrene
and fluorene. The results in this work reveal the strong influence
of side-chain length on the pyrolysis chemistry of alkylbenzenes and
indicate a further need for exploring the influences of other structural
features.