Rate Coefficients for the OH Reaction with CF3SCF3: Atmospheric Lifetime and Global Warming Potential

Bis(trifluoromethyl) sulfide (CF3SCF3) is a candidate insulating gas whose atmospheric persistence is poorly constrained: the structure-activity relationship cannot be reliably extrapolated to this…

By Liu, Li, Jiang +9The Journal of Physical Chemistry LettersOct 21, 2026

Score████░░░░░░4.3

Key numbers

328 K at 50 Torr
298 K

VerdictWorth a reader's time today.

Read the original

Abstract

Abstract Bis(trifluoromethyl) sulfide (CF3SCF3) is a candidate insulating gas whose atmospheric persistence is poorly constrained: the structure–activity relationship cannot be reliably extrapolated to this perfluorinated species, and the only available theoretical estimate has not yet been tested against experiment. We measured the rate coefficient of its dominant atmospheric loss, reaction with OH, by pulsed laser photolysis–laser-induced fluorescence over 272–328 K at 50 Torr. The reaction is slow and nearly temperature independent, with k1(298 K) = (2.15 ± 0.34) × 10–15 cm3 molecule–1 s–1 and a slight positive trend (apparent Ea = (0.30 ± 0.14) kcal mol–1). No O2 dependence was detectable at 50 Torr. The measured k1 exceeds the theoretical value by approximately an order of magnitude, implying an OH-initiated lifetime of ∼14.7 years and a 100-year GWP of ∼2570, well below that of SF6 (24300), supporting further evaluation of CF3SCF3 as an alternative dielectric gas.

Yue Liu, Miaoqing Li, Haotian Jiang, Wei Zhang, Hui Li, Xingan Wang, Jijun Zeng, Bo Zhao, Sheng Qin, Jian Lu, Xueming Yang, Wenrui Dong

The editor's rubric

Heuristic review

Leverage2 / 5: Reusable within one subfield (a technique, dataset, or protocol a few groups will adopt).; 16% of this desk’s rubric
Magnitude3 / 5: Large gain: roughly 2x, or a clear new state of the art on a hard, unsaturated problem.; 20% of this desk’s rubric
Evidence3 / 5: Solid: multiple benchmarks or cohorts, ablations, fair baselines, released code or data.; 20% of this desk’s rubric
Novelty2 / 5: A new combination of known ideas.; 10% of this desk’s rubric
Trajectory2 / 5: Some room to improve with obvious engineering.; 14% of this desk’s rubric
Stakes3 / 5: Meaningful benefit to many people within a few years.; 20% of this desk’s rubric

Dimension	Level	Weight	What that level means
Leverage	██░░░ 2	16%	Reusable within one subfield (a technique, dataset, or protocol a few groups will adopt).
Magnitude	███░░ 3	20%	Large gain: roughly 2x, or a clear new state of the art on a hard, unsaturated problem.
Evidence	███░░ 3	20%	Solid: multiple benchmarks or cohorts, ablations, fair baselines, released code or data.
Novelty	██░░░ 2	10%	A new combination of known ideas.
Trajectory	██░░░ 2	14%	Some room to improve with obvious engineering.
Stakes	███░░ 3	20%	Meaningful benefit to many people within a few years.

Editor’s rationale

Heuristic triage from title and abstract text only, not a reading of the paper. Cues found: gains (orders of magnitude, outperforms); novelty (open problem); verification (error bars, independent replication); scale (orders of magnitude); stakes (global scale, climate).

How the score was computed

rank-2026-10-18

Score████░░░░░░4.3

Score = 10 × (75% × adjusted merit / 10 + 15% × attention + 10% × freshness)

Desks place stronger verdicts first, then use this score to order work within the same verdict.

Merit: 5.2 / 10; Weighted rubric, evidence-gated.
Adjusted merit: 4.5 / 10; Shrunk toward the desk prior by editor confidence (46%).
Attention: 0%; Citations, upvotes, points, mentions.
Freshness: 91%; Half-life decay since publication.

Citations0 (reference 15, via openalex, Oct 22, 2026, 07:29 UTC)

The record

Reviewed by heuristic-v7 on Oct 22, 2026, 07:29 UTC. Paper type: empirical.
Categories: Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols, Atmospheric Ozone and Climate, Fluorine in Organic Chemistry, Atmospheric Science, Earth and Planetary Sciences
TOP, No.4 in the Climate & Energy edition of October 22, 2026.