The radical decay time of NS alone is on the order of 1-3 ms. As evident by no change to this decay time upon addition of NO or O at ambient temperatures, the NS radical is unreactive with NO and O. However, rapid, first-order decay is observed with the addition of NO. This reaction is proposed to proceed through various intermediates, ultimately reaching final products of N and SO.
This rapid reaction occurs with a rate constant of k = (2.54 ± 0.12) × 10 cm molecules s at 295 K. By use of Density Functional Theory based computational calculations, the minima and transition states of the potential energy surface of this reaction have been predicted.