PHOTOCHEMISTRY OF FORMIC-ACID IN RARE-GAS MATRICES - DOUBLE-DOPING EXPERIMENTS ON THE 193 NM INDUCED PHOTODECOMPOSITION

Photoinduced decomposition of formic acid has been investigated in low -temperature rare gas matrices. The photoproduct ratios were found to differ in Xe matrix from those in Ar and Kr matrices. In xenon, the H- 2 + CO2 dissociation channel was observed to be prominent, whereas in argon and krypton the formation of H2O + CO was favored. The perturbat ion upon the photodecomposition mechanism produced by the matrix envir onment was studied by trapping the precursor in mixed Ar/Xe matrices. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.