Effects of reagent orbital alignment on product vibrational distributions of the chemiluminescent reaction Ca(1 P1) + CH3I

Experimental results of the reaction Ca(1P1) + CH3I show that the reagent orbital alignment of Ca(1P1) can influence the product vibrational distributions. In the A2∏ state of CaI product, the vibrational distribution is shifted from low to high levels as the alignment of the p orbital of Ca(1P1) is changing from parallel to perpendicular, relative to the reagent average velocity, but this effect is opposite in the B2Σ state of CaI product. Theoretical analyses show that impact parameters are sensitive to both product vibrational distributions and reagent orbital alignment effect on product electronic states. These relations are used to interpret the experimental results.