Photofragment spectroscopy of metal carbonyls: a molecular beam study of iron pentacarbonyl photolysis at 193 nm

Abstract

The detailed product energy distribution has been determined for the 193-nm photofragmentation of Fe(CO)/sub 5/. In these experiments, done under molecular beam conditions, the CO photofragment was detected by vacuum ultraviolet laser-induced fluorescence. The vibrational and rotational distributions were determined from the spectra, and the translational energy distribution by Doppler spectroscopy. The measured energy release is well described by a completely statistical dissociation in which energy randomization is complete before each step in the series of three sequential CO eliminations.