PHOTODISSOCIATION DYNAMICS OF METHYLAMINE CATION AND ITS RELEVANCE TO TITAN'S IONOSPHERE

Journal Article · Wed Feb 10 04:00:00 EST 2010 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/710/1/112· OSTI ID:21394520

Singh, Prashant Chandra; Lei, Shen; Jia, Zhou; Schlegel, H Bernhard

Photodissociation of CH{sub 3}NH{sub 2} {sup +} has been studied using the DC sliced ion imaging technique and ab initio calculations in order to understand the formation of HCNH{sup +}, an important molecule in Titan's ionosphere. Our experimental and theoretical observations show that hydrogen loss from CH{sub 3}NH{sub 2} {sup +} has two channels: one giving rise to the triplet species CH{sub 3}NH{sup +}, while the other product is CH{sub 2}NH{sub 2} {sup +}. The latter then decomposes further to form HCNH{sup +}. H{sub 2} loss from CH{sub 3}NH{sub 2} {sup +} has only one channel, yielding CH{sub 2}NH{sup +}. This species further loses H to form HCNH{sup +}. The branching ratio of the H, H{sub 2}, and H+H{sub 2} loss channels is found to be 4.2:1:2.5. This is ascribed to the fact that, at these energies, the H loss has one stable triplet product channel, while most of the H{sub 2} loss product further decomposes to HCNH{sup +}.

• OSTI ID: 21394520
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 710; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
AMINES
BRANCHING RATIO
CATIONS
CHARGED PARTICLES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
DECOMPOSITION
DIMENSIONLESS NUMBERS
DISSOCIATION
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
ELEMENTS
HYDROGEN
IONOSPHERE
IONS
METHYLAMINE
NONMETALS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PHOTOCHEMICAL REACTIONS
PHOTOLYSIS
PLANETS
SATELLITES