Chloroacetone photodissociation at 193 nm and the subsequent dynamics of the CH3C(O)CH2 radical--an intermediate formed in the OH + allene reaction en route to CH3 + ketene.

We use a combination of crossed laser-molecular beam experiments and velocity map imaging experiments to investigate the primary photofission channels of chloroacetone at 193 nm; we also probe the dissociation dynamics of the nascent CH(3)C(O)CH(2) radicals formed from C-Cl bond fission. In addition to the C-Cl bond fission primary photodissociation channel, the data evidence another photodissociation channel of the precursor, C-C bond fission to produce CH(3)CO and CH(2)Cl. The CH(3)C(O)CH(2) radical formed from C-Cl bond fission is one of the intermediates in the OH + allene reaction en route to CH(3) + ketene. The 193 nm photodissociation laser allows us to produce these CH(3)C(O)CH(2) radicals with enough internal energy to span the dissociation barrier leading to the CH(3) + ketene asymptote. Therefore, some of the vibrationally excited CH(3)C(O)CH(2) radicals undergo subsequent dissociation to CH(3) + ketene products; we are able to measure the velocities of these products using both the imaging and scattering apparatuses. The results rule out the presence of a significant contribution from a C-C bond photofission channel that produces CH(3) and COCH(2)Cl fragments. The CH(3)C(O)CH(2) radicals are formed with a considerable amount of energy partitioned into rotation; we use an impulsive model to explicitly characterize the internal energy distribution. The data are better fit by using the C-Cl bond fission transition state on the S(1) surface of chloroacetone as the geometry at which the impulsive force acts, not the Franck-Condon geometry. Our data suggest that, even under atmospheric conditions, the reaction of OH with allene could produce a small branching to CH(3) + ketene products, rather than solely producing inelastically stabilized adducts. This additional channel offers a different pathway for the OH-initiated oxidation of such unsaturated volatile organic compounds, those containing a C=C=C moiety, than is currently included in atmospheric models.

Primary photodissociation pathways of epichlorohydrin and analysis of the C-C bond fission channels from an O((3)P)+allyl radical intermediate.

This study initially characterizes the primary photodissociation processes of epichlorohydrin, c-(H(2)COCH)CH(2)Cl. The three dominant photoproduct channels analyzed are c-(H(2)COCH)CH(2)+Cl, c-(H(2)COCH)+CH(2)Cl, and C(3)H(4)O+HCl. In the second channel, the c-(H(2)COCH) photofission product is a higher energy intermediate on C(2)H(3)O global potential energy surface and has a small isomerization barrier to vinoxy. The resulting highly vibrationally excited vinoxy radicals likely dissociate to give the observed signal at the mass corresponding to ketene, H(2)CCO. The final primary photodissociation pathway HCl+C(3)H(4)O evidences a recoil kinetic energy distribution similar to that of four-center HCl elimination in chlorinated alkenes, so is assigned to production of c-(H(2)COC)=CH(2); the epoxide product is formed with enough vibrational energy to isomerize to acrolein and dissociate. The paper then analyzes the dynamics of the C(3)H(5)O radical produced from C-Cl bond photofission. When the epoxide radical photoproduct undergoes facile ring opening, it is the radical intermediate formed in the O((3)P)+allyl bimolecular reaction when the O atom adds to an end C atom. We focus on the HCO+C(2)H(4) and H(2)CO+C(2)H(3) product channels from this radical intermediate in this report. Analysis of the velocity distribution of the momentum-matched signals from the HCO+C(2)H(4) products at m/e=29 and 28 shows that the dissociation of the radical intermediate imparts a high relative kinetic energy, peaking near 20 kcal/mol, between the products. Similarly, the energy imparted to relative kinetic energy in the H(2)CO+C(2)H(3) product channel of the O((3)P)+allyl radical intermediate also peaks at high-recoil kinetic energies, near 18 kcal/mol. The strongly forward-backward peaked angular distributions and the high kinetic energy release result from tangential recoil during the dissociation of highly rotationally excited nascent radicals formed photolytically in this experiment. The data also reveal substantial branching to an HCCH+H(3)CO product channel. We present a detailed statistical prediction for the dissociation of the radical intermediate on the C(3)H(5)O potential energy surface calculated with coupled cluster theory, accounting for the rotational and vibrational energy imparted to the radical intermediate and the resulting competition between the H+acrolein, HCO+C(2)H(4), and H(2)CO+C(2)H(3) product channels. We compare the results of the theoretical prediction with our measured branching ratios. We also report photoionization efficiency (PIE) curves extending from 9.25 to 12.75 eV for the signal from the HCO+C(2)H(4) and H(2)CO+C(2)H(3) product channels. Using the C(2)H(4) bandwidth-averaged absolute photoionization cross section at 11.27 eV and our measured relative photoion signals of C(2)H(4) and HCO yields a value of 11.6+1/-3 Mb for the photoionization cross section of HCO at 11.27 eV. This determination puts the PIE curve of HCO measured here on an absolute scale, allowing us to report the absolute photoionization efficiency of HCO over the entire range of photoionization energies.

Dissociation dynamics of the methylsulfonyl radical and its photolytic precursor CH3SO2Cl.

The dissociation dynamics of methylsulfonyl radicals generated from the photodissociation of CH(3)SO(2)Cl at 193 nm is investigated by measuring product velocities in a crossed laser-molecular beam scattering apparatus. The data evidence three primary photodissociation channels of the precursor: S-Cl fission to produce Cl atoms and ground electronic state CH(3)SO(2) radicals, S-Cl fission to produce Cl atoms and electronically excited CH(3)SO(2) radicals, and S-CH(3) fission. Some of the vibrationally excited CH(3)SO(2) radicals undergo subsequent dissociation to CH(3) + SO(2), as do all of the electronically excited radicals. The velocities of the SO(2) products show that the vibrationally excited ground state CH(3)SO(2) radicals dissociate via a loose transition state having a small exit barrier beyond the endoergicity. Hence, a statistical recoil kinetic energy distribution should and does fit the distribution of velocities imparted to these SO(2) products. The electronically excited CH(3)SO(2) radicals also dissociate to CH(3) + SO(2), but with a larger average release to relative kinetic energy. Interestingly, when using 200 eV electron bombardment detection, the ground electronic state CH(3)SO(2) radicals having too little internal energy to dissociate are not observed at the parent CH(3)SO(2)(+) ion, but only at the CH(3)(+) daughter ion. They are distinguished by virtue of the velocity imparted in the original photolytic step; the detected velocities of the stable radicals are consistent with the calculated barrier of 14.6 kcal/mol for the dissociation of CH(3)SO(2) to CH(3) + SO(2). We present CCSD(T) calculations of the adiabatic excitation energy to the lowest excited state of CH(3)SO(2) radicals, the 1 (2)A(") state, as well as the vertical energy from the equilibrium geometry of that excited state to the 2 (2)A(") state, to aid in the experimental assignment.

Investigation of the O+allyl addition/elimination reaction pathways from the OCH(2)CHCH(2) radical intermediate.

These experiments study the preparation of and product channels resulting from OCH(2)CHCH(2), a key radical intermediate in the O+allyl bimolecular reaction. The data include velocity map imaging and molecular beam scattering results to probe the photolytic generation of the radical intermediate and the subsequent pathways by which the radicals access the energetically allowed product channels of the bimolecular reaction. The photodissociation of epichlorohydrin at 193.3 nm produces chlorine atoms and c-OCH(2)CHCH(2) radicals; these undergo a facile ring opening to the OCH(2)CHCH(2) radical intermediate. State-selective resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) detection resolves the velocity distributions of ground and spin-orbit excited state chlorine independently, allowing for a more accurate determination of the internal energy distribution of the nascent radicals. We obtain good agreement detecting the velocity distributions of the Cl atoms with REMPI, vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photoionization at 13.8 eV, and electron bombardment ionization; all show a bimodal distribution of recoil kinetic energies. The dominant high recoil kinetic energy feature peaks near 33 kcalmol. To elucidate the product channels resulting from the OCH(2)CHCH(2) radical intermediate, the crossed laser-molecular beam experiment uses VUV photoionization and detects the velocity distribution of the possible products. The data identify the three dominant product channels as C(3)H(4)O (acrolein)+H, C(2)H(4)+HCO (formyl radical), and H(2)CO (formaldehyde)+C(2)H(3). A small signal from C(2)H(2)O (ketene) product is also detected. The measured velocity distributions and relative signal intensities at me=27, 28, and 29 at two photoionization energies show that the most exothermic product channel, C(2)H(5)+CO, does not contribute significantly to the product branching. The higher internal energy onset of the acrolein+H product channel is consistent with the relative barriers en route to each of these product channels calculated at the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVQZ level of theory, although a clean determination of the barrier energy to H+acrolein is precluded by the substantial partitioning into rotational energy during the photolytic production of the nascent radicals. We compare the measured branching fraction to the H+acrolein product channel with a statistical prediction based on the calculated transition states.

Determination of the barrier height for acetyl radical dissociation from acetyl chloride photodissociation at 235 nm using velocity map imaging.

This work uses velocity map imaging to determine the barrier height for acetyl radical, CH3CO, dissociation to CH3 + CO. Photodissociation of acetyl chloride at 235 nm generates acetyl radicals with an internal energy distribution spanning this barrier. We determine the velocity and internal energy distribution of all nascent acetyl radicals, stable and unstable, by measuring the velocities of the Cl(2P3/2) and Cl(2P1/2) cofragments. These Cl cofragments are detected with 2 + 1 resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) in a spin-orbit branching ratio Cl(2P3/2):Cl(2P1/2) of 3.3 +/- 0.2. Using 157 nm photoionization, we then detect the recoil velocities of the energetically stable acetyl radicals. The radicals and momentum matched Cl atoms evidence parallel angular distributions. Comparison of the total recoil translational energy distribution P(E(T)) for all radicals to that obtained from the detection of stable radicals yields an onset for dissociation at a translational energy of 25.0 +/- 0.4 kcal/mol. From this onset we can calculate the barrier height for CH3CO --> CH3 + CO, but this relies on prior determinations of the C-Cl bond energy of acetyl chloride. Using an experimental bond dissociation energy of 83.4 +/- 0.2 kcal/mol yields a dissociation barrier of 14.2 +/- 0.5 kcal/mol. Our data evidence that a portion of the acetyl radicals formed with total internal energy above the barrier are stable due to the partitioning of energy into rotation during the C-Cl bond fission of the precursor. Thus, the internal energy onset for dissociation is not as sharp as was assumed in prior determinations of the barrier. The experimentally determined onset is compared with that predicted from electronic structure calculations at the G3//B3LYP and CCSD(T) levels of theory.

Photodissociation pathways of 1,1-dichloroacetone.

We present a comprehensive investigation of the dissociation dynamics following photoexcitation of 1,1-dichloroacetone (CH(3)COCHCl(2)) at 193 nm. Two major dissociation channels are observed: cleavage of a C-Cl bond to form CH(3)C(O)CHCl + Cl and elimination of HCl. The branching between these reaction channels is roughly 9:1. The recoil kinetic energy distributions for both C-Cl fission and HCl elimination are bimodal. The former suggests that some of the radicals are formed in an excited electronic state. A portion of the CH(3)C(O)CHCl photoproducts undergo secondary dissociation to give CH(3) + C(O)CHCl. Photoelimination of Cl(2) is not a significant product channel. A primary C-C bond fission channel to give CH(3)CO + CHCl(2) may be present, but this signal may also be due to a secondary dissociation. Data from photofragment translational spectroscopy with electron impact and photoionization detection, velocity map ion imaging, and UV-visible absorption spectroscopy are presented, along with G3//B3LYP calculations of the bond dissociation energetics.

Unimolecular dissociation of the propargyl radical intermediate of the CH+C2H2 and C+C2H3 reactions.

This paper examines the unimolecular dissociation of propargyl (HCCCH2) radicals over a range of internal energies to probe the CH+HCCH and C+C2H3 bimolecular reactions from the radical intermediate to products. The propargyl radical was produced by 157 nm photolysis of propargyl chloride in crossed laser-molecular beam scattering experiments. The H-loss and H2 elimination channels of the nascent propargyl radicals were observed. Detection of stable propargyl radicals gave an experimental determination of 71.5 (+5-10) kcal/mol as the lowest barrier to dissociation of the radical. This barrier is significantly lower than predictions for the lowest barrier to the radical's dissociation and also lower than calculated overall reaction enthalpies. Products from both H2+HCCC and H+C3H2 channels were detected at energies lower than what has been theoretically predicted. An HCl elimination channel and a minor C-H fission channel were also observed in the photolysis of propargyl chloride.