Photodissociation dynamics of CH3Cl at 157.6 nm: Evidence for CH2(X̃3B1/ã1A1)+HCl product channels

Photodissociation of methyl chloride at 157.6 nm has been investigated using a molecular beam apparatus with a universal detector, which is based on VUV photoionization by synchrotron radiation. Three dissociation channels have been observed: Cl+CH3, H+CH2Cl and HCl+CH2. Product translational energy distributions were determined for all observed dissociation channels. An intriguing HCl elimination channel was observed, which consists of two distinctive micro channels: one is CH2(X̃3B1)+HCl, the other is CH2(ã1A1)+HCl. The fraction of the available energy released as product translational energy was determined to be 0.75 for CH2(X̃3B1)+HCl and 0.38 for CH2(ã1A1)+HCl. Other product channels such as H2+CHCl were not found.