Photoproduct channels from BrCD2CD2OH at 193 nm and the HDO + vinyl products from the CD2CD2OH radical intermediate.

We present the results of our product branching studies of the OH + C(2)D(4) reaction, beginning at the CD(2)CD(2)OH radical intermediate of the reaction, which is generated by the photodissociation of the precursor molecule BrCD(2)CD(2)OH at 193 nm. Using a crossed laser-molecular beam scattering apparatus with tunable photoionization detection, and a velocity map imaging apparatus with VUV photoionization, we detect the products of the major primary photodissociation channel (Br and CD(2)CD(2)OH), and of the secondary dissociation of vibrationally excited CD(2)CD(2)OH radicals (OH, C(2)D(4)/CD(2)O, C(2)D(3), CD(2)H, and CD(2)CDOH). We also characterize two additional photodissociation channels, which generate HBr + CD(2)CD(2)O and DBr + CD(2)CDOH, and measure the branching ratio between the C-Br bond fission, HBr elimination, and DBr elimination primary photodissociation channels as 0.99:0.0064:0.0046. The velocity distribution of the signal at m/e = 30 upon 10.5 eV photoionization allows us to identify the signal from the vinyl (C(2)D(3)) product, assigned to a frustrated dissociation toward OH + ethene followed by D-atom abstraction. The relative amount of vinyl and Br atom signal shows the quantum yield of this HDO + C(2)D(3) product channel is reduced by a factor of 0.77 ± 0.33 from that measured for the undeuterated system. However, because the vibrational energy distribution of the deuterated radicals is lower than that of the undeuterated radicals, the observed reduction in the water + vinyl product quantum yield likely reflects the smaller fraction of radicals that dissociate in the deuterated system, not the effect of quantum tunneling. We compare these results to predictions from statistical transition state theory and prior classical trajectory calculations on the OH + ethene potential energy surface that evidenced a roaming channel to produce water + vinyl products and consider how the branching to the water + vinyl channel might be sensitive to the angular momentum of the ß-hydroxyethyl radicals.

Product branching from the CH2CH2OH radical intermediate of the OH + ethene reaction.

Using a crossed laser-molecular beam scattering apparatus and tunable photoionization detection, these experiments determine the branching to the product channels accessible from the 2-hydroxyethyl radical, the first radical intermediate in the addition reaction of OH with ethene. Photodissociation of 2-bromoethanol at 193 nm forms 2-hydroxyethyl radicals with a range of vibrational energies, which was characterized in our first study of this system ( J. Phys. Chem. A 2010 , 114 , 4934 ). In this second study, we measure the relative signal intensities of ethene (at m/e = 28), vinyl (at m/e = 27), ethenol (at m/e = 44), formaldehyde (at m/e = 30), and acetaldehyde (at m/e = 44) products and correct for the photoionization cross sections and kinematic factors to determine a 0.765:0.145:0.026:0.063:<0.01 branching to the OH + C(2)H(4), H(2)O + C(2)H(3), CH(2)CHOH + H, H(2)CO + CH(3), and CH(3)CHO + H product asymptotes. The detection of the H(2)O + vinyl product channel is surprising when starting from the CH(2)CH(2)OH radical adduct; prior studies had assumed that the H(2)O + vinyl products were solely from the direct abstraction channel in the bimolecular collision of OH and ethene. We suggest that these products may result from a frustrated dissociation of the CH(2)CH(2)OH radical to OH + ethene in which the C-O bond begins to stretch, but the leaving OH moiety abstracts an H atom to form H(2)O + vinyl. We compare our experimental branching ratio to that predicted from statistical microcanonical rate constants averaged over the vibrational energy distribution of our CH(2)CH(2)OH radicals. The comparison suggests that a statistical prediction using 1-D Eckart tunneling underestimates the rate constants for the branching to the product channels of OH + ethene, and that the mechanism for the branching to the H(2)O + vinyl channel is not adequately treated in such theories.

Determining the CH3SO2 --> CH3 + SO2 barrier from methylsulfonyl chloride photodissociation at 193 nm using velocity map imaging.

These imaging experiments study the formation of the methylsulfonyl radical, CH(3)SO(2), from the photodissociation of CH(3)SO(2)Cl at 193 nm and determine the energetic barrier for the radical's subsequent dissociation to CH(3) + SO(2). We first state-selectively detect the angular and recoil velocity distributions of the Cl((2)P(3/2)) and Cl((2)P(1/2)) atoms to further refine the distribution of internal energy partitioned to the momentum-matched CH(3)SO(2) radicals. The internal energy distribution of the radicals is bimodal, indicating that CH(3)SO(2) is formed in both the ground state and low-lying excited electronic states. All electronically excited CH(3)SO(2) radicals dissociate, while those formed in the ground electronic state have an internal energy distribution which spans the dissociation barrier to CH(3) + SO(2). We detect the recoil velocities of the energetically stable methylsulfonyl radicals with 118 nm photoionization. Comparison of the total recoil translational energy distribution for all radicals to the distribution obtained from the detection of stable radicals yields an onset for dissociation at a translational energy of 70+/-2 kcal/mol. This onset allows us to derive a CH(3)SO(2) --> CH(3) + SO(2) barrier height of 14+/-2 kcal/mol; this determination relies on the S-Cl bond dissociation energy, taken here as the CCSD(T) predicted energy of 65.6 kcal/mol. With 118 nm photoionization, we also detect the velocity distribution of the CH(3) radicals produced in this experiment. Using the velocity distributions of the SO(2) products from the dissociation of CH(3)SO(2) to CH(3) + SO(2) presented in the following paper, we show that our fastest detected methyl radicals are not from these radical dissociation channels, but rather from a primary S-CH(3) bond photofission channel in CH(3)SO(2)Cl. We also present critical points on the ground state potential energy surface of CH(3)SO(2) at the //CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pV(Q + d)ZCCSD(T)/6-311++G(2df,p) level. We include harmonic zero-point vibrational corrections as well as core-valence and scalar-relativistic corrections. The CCSD(T) predicted barrier of 14.6 kcal/mol for CH(3)SO(2) --> CH(3) + SO(2) agrees well with our experimental measurement. These results allow us to predict the unimolecular dissociation kinetics of CH(3)SO(2) radicals and critique the analysis of prior time-resolved photoionization studies on this system.

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.