Zinc acrylate (ZAcr: Fluka, 98%) was used as zinc precursor as the solubility of ZAcr in methanol is higher than those of anhydrous zinc nitrate and zinc acetate used in prior studies as adding water in methanol (by using zinc nitrate hydrate) may disturb the gas-phase reaction.
A mixture of 94 vol% methanol (J.T. Baker,exceed ACS grade) and 6 vol% acetic acid (Scharlau,reagent grade) was used as solvent.
A transparent 0.5 mol/l solution was obtained by ultrasonic mixing of ZAcr with the solvent.