Photodissociation dynamics of the S 2 state of CH 3ONO: LIF observation of nascent OH State distributions

Abstract

The 266 nm photodissociation of gaseous CH 3ONO has been studied by monitoring the OH (X 2Π) product using the single-photon LIF technique. The OH fragment has been found to be vibrationally cold and its rotational state distribution conformed to a Boltzmann distribution. The ratios of 2Π 3/2 to 2Π 1/2 of the OH fragment were found to be close to unity. The population in the Π − state for the Λ-doublets was dominant. An additional decay channel, yielding OH(X 2Π) fragments, has been observed and assigned to CH 3ONO + hν → NO(X 2Π) + CH 3O(X 2E), CH 3O(X 2E) → CH 2OH( 2A) → CH 2( 3B 1) + OH(X 2Π).