INFRARED PHOTOCHEMISTRY OF FBRCO - AN EXPERIMENTAL AND THEORETICAL-STUDY

An experimental and theoretical study has been performed on dissociati on pathways of the FBrCO molecule. Experimentally, the infrared multip hoton dissociation technique has been used to dissociate FBrCO molecul es and the products analysed using Fourier transform infrared spectros copy. The threshold intensity for the multiphoton dissociation of FBrC O has been determined to be 143.4 +/- 15 MW cm-2. Theoretically, ab in itio molecular orbital theory calculations at the second order Moller- Plesset level of theory have been performed to estimate the energetics of the dissociation pathways of FBrCO. Both experimental and theoreti cal results suggest that the most favourable dissociation pathway on t he ground state potential energy surface is the Br-C bond fission proc ess to yield Br + FCO.