Photodissociation Dynamics of Nitromethane and Nitroethane at 266 nm

Measurements of the nascent OH product from photodissociation of gaseous nitromethane and nitroethane at 266 nm were performed using the single-photon laser induced °uorescence technique. The OH fragment is found to be vibrationally cold for both systems. The rotational state distribution of nitromethane are Boltzmann, with rotational temperature of Trot=2045§150 and 1923§150 K for both 2|3=2 and 2|1=2 states, respectively. For nitroethane, the rotational state distribution shows none Boltzmann and cannot be well characterized by a rotational temperature, which indicates the di?erent mechanisms in producing OH radicals from photodissociation of nitromethane and nitroethane. The rotational energy is calculated as 14.36§0.8 and 4.98§0.8 kJ/mol for nitromethane and nitroethane, respectively. A preferential population of the low spin-orbit component (2|3=2) is observed for both nitromethane and nitroethane. The dominant population of |+ state in two ¤-doublet states is also observed for both nitromethane and nitroethane,which indicates that the unpaired ? lobe of the OH fragment is parallel to the plane of rotation.