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Updated: Apr 12, 2026

Photoelectron Imaging of Anions Illustrated by 310 Nm Detachment of F−
Published on: July 27, 2018
Crossed-beam DC slice imaging of fluorine atom reactions with linear alkanes
Yuanyuan Shi1, Alexander Kamasah1, Baptiste Joalland1
1Department of Chemistry, Wayne State University, 5101 Cass Avenue, Detroit, Michigan 48202, USA.
Abstract:
We report the reaction dynamics of F atom with selected alkanes studied by crossed beam scattering with DC slice ion imaging. The target alkanes are propane, n-butane, and n-pentane. The product alkyl radicals are probed by 157 nm single photon ionization following reaction at a collision energy of ∼10 kcal mol(-1). The analyzed data are compared with the corresponding theoretical studies. Reduced translational energy distributions for each system show similar trends with little of the reaction exoergicity appearing in translation. However, the pentane reaction shows a somewhat smaller fraction of available energy in translation than the other two, suggesting greater energy channeled into pentyl internal degrees of freedom. The center-of-mass angular distributions all show backscattering as well as sharp forward scattering that decreases in relative intensity with the size of the molecule. Possible reasons for these trends are discussed.
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