A Study of the Primary Processes in Photochemical Reactions by Photofragment Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

A mass spectrometric method has been studied for the determination of primary process in photochemical reactions, High intensity output of the mercury lamp is focused on the molecular flow of reactant gas introduced in the ion source of a mass spectrometer. The recorded mass spectrum of the photolyte flow is the superposition of the mass spectra of photofragment free radicals and unreacted reactant molecuies. Providing that the mass spectra of the photofragment free radicals produced in the reaction system have been known in preliminary experiments, the primary processes in photochemical reactions may be determined directly. In the primary process of azoisopropane photolysis, exemplified for the description of photofragment mass spectrometry, the rupture of C-N bond in azo-isopropane has been found predominant, which is consistent with the results of previous works carried out by other method.