O₂(b¹Σ_g⁺) Quenching by O₂, CO₂, H₂O, and N₂ at Temperatures of 300-800 K

Rate constants for the removal of O₂(b¹Σ_g⁺) by collisions with O₂, N₂, CO₂, and H₂O have been determined over the temperature range from 297 to 800 K. O₂(b¹Σ_g⁺) was excited by pulses from a tunable dye laser, and the deactivation kinetics were followed by observing the temporal behavior of the b¹Σ_g⁺-X³Σ_g^- fluorescence. The removal rate constants for CO₂, N₂, and H₂O were not strongly dependent on temperature and could be represented by the expressions k_CO2 = (1.18 ± 0.05) × 10^-17 × T^1.5 × exp[Formula: see text], k_N2 = (8 ± 0.3) × 10^-20 × T^1.5 × exp[Formula: see text], and k_H2O = (1.27 ± 0.08) × 10^-16 × T^1.5 × exp[Formula: see text] cm³ molecule^-1 s^-1. Rate constants for O₂(b¹Σ_g⁺) removal by O₂(X), being orders of magnitude lower, demonstrated a sharp increase with temperature, represented by the fitted expression k_O2 = (7.4 ± 0.8) × 10^-17 × T^0.5 × exp[Formula: see text] cm³ molecule^-1 s^-1. All of the rate constants measured at room temperature were found to be in good agreement with previously reported values.