Strong isotope effects in the F+HD reactions at the low-energy interval: a quantum-mechanical study

This Letter reports on a quantum-mechanical coupled-state study of the reactions F+HD → FH+D and F+DH → FD+H at four (low) energies namely 21, 35, 51 and 61 meV. Vibrational state-to-state integral and differential cross-sections are presented. The main results are: (a) the FD products are always distributed backward; (b) the FH products show forward–backward distributions at the two higher energies, a tri-peak distribution at the third energy and a backward distribution at the lowest energy; (c) the calculated integral cross-sections yield a strong isotope effect where the FH product is favored over the FD product.