Photodissociation of CF2 = CFCl at 193 nm by translational spectroscopy

The photodissociation of CF2=CFCl at 193 nm has been studied by product tra nslational spectroscopy. Results show that the molecule undergoes competing dissociation into three pairs of products: (1) CFCl+CF2, (2) C2F2Cl+F, and (3) C2F3+Cl with a relative yield of 1.0:similar to 0.1:1.4. When photolyz ed with polarized laser light, reactions (1) and (3) were detected with fra gments recoiling anisotropically, indicating that dissociation occurs prima rily on the excited potential energy surface. From the maximum kinetic ener gy derived for reactions (2) and (3), a upper limit of 110 and 90 kcal/mol was determined for the C-F bond and the C-Cl bond dissociation energy, resp ectively. In addition to these primary dissociation channels, we have obser ved the secondary products, CF+CF2 and F+C2F2 from the primary fragment C2F 3 by absorbing an additional photon. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics . [S0021-9606(00)00739-X].