Using a vibrational pumping technique based on transient stimulated Raman scattering we have measured <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">p\tau</tex> values for VT relaxation of the <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">\upsilon = 1</tex> levels in N <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> and CO at room temperature and in the presence of several deactivants; the N <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> data represent the only room temperature data presently available. A mode-locked ruby laser, delivering picosecond pulses, vibrationally pumps the molecule by TSRS; the subsequent decay of the vibrational population is followed by light scattering off localized refractive index changes caused by heating arising from the thermalization of the excited state population. For rapidly relaxing molecules, heat conduction is negligible and the scattered light signal behaves as <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">(1 - e^{-t}/\tau_{VT})^{2}</tex> Since CO and N <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> relax quite slowly, heat losses can be appreciable; the resulting behavior of the scattered light signal and its relationship to a τ <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">VT</inf> will be discussed. Thus far <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">p\tau</tex> values of 6 ± 3 and 0.7 ± 0.35 s-atm have obtained for N <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> and CO, respectively. In addition, data for CO deactivation by CO chemical laser contaminants, such as COS, SO <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> , and CS <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> , and preliminary temperature dependence measurements will be discussed.