A crossed molecular beam study of the O(D-1) + C3H8 reaction: Multiple reaction pathways

The O(D-1) + C3H8 reaction has been reinvestigated using the universal cros sed molecular beam method. Three reaction channels, CH3 + C2H4OH, C2H5 + CH 2OH, and OH + C3H7, have been observed. All three channels are significant in the title reaction with the C2H5 formation process to be the most import ant, while the CH3 formation and the OH formation channels are about equal. Product kinetic energy distributions and angular distributions have been d etermined for the three reaction channels observed. The oxygen-containing r adicals in the CH3 and C2H5 formation pathways show forward-backward symmet ric angular distribution relative to the O atom beam, while the OH product shows a clearly forward angular distribution. These results indicate that t he OH formation channel seems to exhibit different dynamics from the CH3 an d C2H5 channels.