Imaging the O(1D) + CD4 → OD + CD3 reaction dynamics: probing vibrationally and rotationally excited CD3 products

The dynamics of the O((1)D) + CD(4) → OD + CD(3) reaction has been studied using the crossed molecular beam technique with sliced velocity map imaging. Internally excited CD(3) products were detected using a (2+1) resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization with state resolution. Dual reaction mechanisms, insertion and abstraction, were only observed for CD(3) products with its umbrella mode (v(2)) excited or in its ground state, while CD(3) products with other vibrational mode excited do not show any evidence of contributions from the abstraction pathway. Experimental results indicate that even though the insertion channel dominates the reaction, the abstraction channel contributes relatively more to vibrationally excited CD(3) products. The state-to-state correlation between the two reaction products, OD and CD(3), was determined for the abstraction channel at different collision energies. In addition, we measured rotationally hot CD(3) products and found that these products are only produced via the insertion channel.