The production of nitric oxide from combustion of hydrocarbon fuels with air has been recognized to be a serious potential health hazard. In dirtier fuels such as coal and oil shale, a major source of nitric oxide occurs due to the reactions of small hydrocarbon fragments with the nitrogen in the air. These reactions take place in the rich part of the combustion flame and are termed the Prompt-NO mechanism. However, the detailed reaction sequence and rates of these reactions are not well known. The purpose of this work was to measure key reaction rates of the CH radical which form the basis for Prompt-NO production, and to use these rates in a chemical model in order to elucidate the important mechanisms which lead to NO formation. Problems arose in developing a viable source of CH for rate measurements. The original CH formation mechanism, titration of CH/sub 4/ by atomic fluorine, did not produce CH cleanly. An alternate technique, which uses the reaction of potassium atoms with bromoform does appear to work. Due to the difficulties associated with this source, no new rate measurements were completed. However, CH A/sup 2/..delta.. lifetime and quenching rates were determined. The modeling was very successful. The results confirm that CH N/sub 2/ is the pivotal reaction leading to prompt-NO formation, in that it directly supplies atomic nitrogen to the Zeldovich mechanism, in addition to forming NO via a mechanism involving HCN, CN, NCO, and NH/sub i/ species. The details of this mechanism and how it changes under varied combustion conditions are discussed. 86 references, 12 figures, 4 tables.