Photodissociation dynamics of CH3Cl at 157.6 nm: Evidence for CH2((X)over-tilde(3)B(1)/(a)over-tilde(1)A(1))+HCl product channels

Abstract

Photodissociation of methyl chloride at 157.6 nm has been investigated using a molecular beam apparatus with a universal detector, which is based on VUV photoionization by synchrotron radiation. Three dissociation channels have been observed: Cl þ CH3, H þ CH2Cl & HCl þ CH2. Product translational energy distributions were determined for all observed dissociation channels. An intriguing HCl elimination channel was observed, which consists of two distinctive micro channels: one is CH2ð~XX3B1Þ þ HCl, the other is CH2ð~a1A1Þ þ HCl. The fraction of the available energy released as product translational energy was determined to be 0.75 for CH2ð~XX3B1Þ þ HCl & 0.38 for CH2ð~a1A1Þ þ HCl. Other product channels such as H2 þ CHCl were not found.