Oxalyl chloride, ClC(O)C(O)Cl: UV/vis spectrum and Cl atom photolysis quantum yields at 193, 248, and 351 nm

Abstract

Oxalyl chloride, (ClCO)(2), has been used as a Cl atom photolytic precursor in numerous laboratory kinetic and photochemical studies. In this study, the UV/vis absorption spectrum of (ClCO)(2) and the Cl atom quantum yields in its photolysis at 193, 248, and 351 nm are reported. The UV∕vis spectrum was measured between 200 and 450 nm at 296 K using diode array spectroscopy in conjunction with an absolute cross section obtained at 213.9 nm. Our results are in agreement with the spectrum reported by Baklanov and Krasnoperov [J. Phys. Chem. A 105, 97-103 (2001)], which was obtained at 11 discrete wavelengths between 193.3 and 390 nm. Cl atom quantum yields, Φ(λ), were measured using pulsed laser photolysis coupled with time resolved atomic resonance fluorescence detection of Cl. The UV photolysis of (ClCO)(2) has been shown in previous studies to occur via an impulsive three-body dissociation mechanism, (COCl)(2) + hv → ClCO* + Cl + CO (2), where the excited ClCO radical, ClCO*, either dissociates or stabilizes ClCO* → Cl + CO (3a), → ClCO (3b). ClCO is thermally unstable at the temperatures (253-298 K) and total pressures (13-128 Torr) used in our experiments ClCO + M → Cl + CO + M (4) leading to the formation of a secondary Cl atom that was resolvable in the Cl atom temporal profiles obtained in the 248 and 351 nm photolysis of (ClCO)(2). Φ(193 nm) was found to be 2.07 ± 0.37 independent of bath gas pressure (25.8-105.7 Torr, N(2)), i.e., the branching ratio for channel 2a or the direct formation of 2Cl + 2CO in the photolysis of (ClCO)(2) is >0.95. At 248 nm, the branching ratio for channel 2a was determined to be 0.79 ± 0.15, while the total Cl atom yield, i.e., following the completion of reaction (4), was found to be 1.98 ± 0.26 independent of bath gas pressure (15-70 Torr, N(2)). Φ(351 nm) was found to be pressure dependent between 7.8 and 122.4 Torr (He, N(2)). The low-pressure limit of the total Cl atom quantum yield, Φ(0)(351 nm), was 2.05 ± 0.24. As part of this work, rate coefficients for the thermal decomposition of ClCO were measured between 253 and 298 K at total pressures between 13 and 128 Torr (He and N(2) bath gases). The N(2) bath gas results were combined with the data reported in Nicovich et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 92, 3539-3544 (1990)] to yield k(4)(T, N(2)) = (4.7 ± 0.7) × 10(-10) exp [-(2987 ± 16)/T] cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1), while the He bath gas data fit yielded k(4)(T, He) = (2.3 ± 2.1) × 10(-10) exp [-(2886 ± 218)/T] cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1). The quoted uncertainties are at the 2σ level from the precision of the fit. In addition, the room temperature rate coefficient for the Cl + ClNO reaction was measured in this work to be (1.03 ± 0.10) × 10(-10) cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1).