*Weitere Angaben Inhalt: Tunable infrared diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) has been applied to investigate the chemical kinetics in reactive discharges. It was used to detect the methyl radical and nine stable molecules, CH4, CH3OH, C2H2, C2H4, C2H6, NH3, HCN, CH2O and C2N2, in H2-Ar-N2 microwave plasmas containing up to 7.2 % of methane or methanol, under both flowing and static conditions. The degree of dissociation of the hydrocarbon precursor molecules varied between 20 and 97 %. The methyl radical concentration was found to be in the range 1012 to 1013 molecules cm-3. By analysing the temporal development of molecular concentrations under static conditions it was found that HCN and NH3 are the final products of plasma chemical conversion. The fragmentation rates of methane and methanol and the respective conversion rates to methane, hydrogen cyanide and ammonia have been determined for different hydrogen to nitrogen concentration ratios. An extensive model of the chemical reactions involved in the H2-N2-Ar-CH4 plasma has been developed. Model calculations were performed by including 22 species, 145
