The photodissociation of CO(CN)(2) at 193 nm has been studied by probing th
e nascent CN fragments. Two energetically different CN species were identif
ied, a rotationally and vibrationally hot one characterized by T-r similar
to 2300 K and T-v similar to 3600 K, and a cold one exclusively in v = 0 wi
th T-r similar to 410 K. The hot CN together with OCCN stems from the a-cle
avage while the cold CN, which accounts for about 18% of all CN fragments,
is from the spontaneous secondary decay OCCN --> CN + CO thus confirming th
e three-body decay to be a sequential, process. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B
.V. All rights reserved.