Exploring the reaction dynamics of nitrogen atoms: A combined crossed beamand theoretical study of N(D-2)+D-2 -> ND+D

In the first successful reactive scattering study of nitrogen atoms, the an gular and velocity distribution of the ND product from the reaction N(D-2) + D-2 at 5.1 and 3.8 kcal/mol collision energies has been obtained in a cro ssed molecular beam study with mass spectrometric detection. The center-of- mass product angular distribution is found to be nearly backward-forward sy mmetric, reflecting an insertion dynamics. About 30% of the total available energy goes into product translation. The experimental results were compar ed with those of quasiclassical trajectory calculations on an accurate pote ntial energy surface obtained from large scale ab initio electronic structu re computations. Good agreement was found between the experimental results and the theoretical predictions. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S 0021-9606(99)02118-2].