ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY OF CF3OH - IS PHOTOLYSIS IMPORTANT

The likely impact of photolysis of CF3OH to produce CF3O radicals in t he stratosphere is considered. Combination of the known absorption spe ctrum of CH3OH with the calculated solar flux as a function of altitud e provides an estimate of its lifetime with respect to photolysis. CIS D calculations an the ground and first excited states of CF3OH indicat e that the first valence absorption maximum has an energy of 9.05 eV, blue-shifted 2.24 eV from that of CH3OH. Estimates of the minimum like ly lifetime of CF3OH with respect to photolysis are obtained by shifti ng the absorption spectrum of CH3OH to higher energy and recombining w ith the calculated solar flux. For altitudes below 40 km, the lifetime of CF3OH with respect to photolysis is on the order of millions of ye ars. Photolysis of CF3OH is of no atmospheric importance.