Chemical processes in the atmospheric pressure plasma treatment of benzene

In this paper, we present the first multi-diagnostic investigation of the chemical processes occurring in nitrogen-benzene plasmas at atmospheric pressure. Plasma treatment results in extended deposit formation on the reactor surfaces. In our experiment, the composition of the deposit has been investigated by several well established analytical techniques (NMR, FT-IR, and GC-MS). The most abundant molecule synthesized in the plasma turns out to be biphenyl, while the polymeric, tholin-like, fraction of the deposit show the presence of [BOND]CN, [BOND]NH and [BOND]NH2 functions. To get further insights on the characteristics of the discharge, optical emission spectra have also been recorded and studied.