Photodissociation dynamics of ClCN at different wavelengths

The photodissociation dynamics of small molecules in the gas and condensed phase is an important source of information for better characterizing intermolecular interactions. Herein, classical molecular dynamics simulations with provisions to follow reactive processes between different electronic states are used to probe the wavelength dependence of product state distributions after laser excitation of ClCN. It is found that the maximum of the rotational excitation distribution P(j) of the CN product shifts to lower j-values with increasing wavelength and the width of the distribution narrows. Both observations are in accord with earlier experiments and provide improvements over previous theoretical treatments of the process with the same interaction potentials. For the reaction in a water droplet, strong quenching of rotational excitation is found.