DETERMINATION OF THE BARRIER HEIGHT TO CH3CO DISSOCIATION

The photodissociation of acetyl chloride at 248 nm has been investigat ed by the technique of photofragment translational spectroscopy. A com parison of the translational energy distributions required to fit the chlorine atom and the acetyl radical indicates that a significant frac tion (almost-equal-to 35%) of the CH3CO fragments undergo secondary de composition to CH3 and CO. From analysis of the center-of-mass transla tional energy distributions a value of 17 +/- 1 kcal/mol for the barri er height to acetyl radical dissociation has been determined.