Detailed Studies of Hydrocarbon Radicals: C2H Dissociation
- Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
The goal of this research at its outset was a chemical physics investigation of C2H properties: spectroscopy, dynamics (including non-adiabatic), thermodynamics, etc. using mainly the Rydberg-tagging technique that had been a mainstay of my laboratory for two decades. We encountered a number of technical obstacles that bogged us down for about a year and a half before switching to a very different approach. It was believed that the new approach would yield the UV absorption spectrum of cold, gas-phase C2H. It involved using a cold CO2 matrix (which does not react with C2H) to simultaneously prepare the radical and propel it into vacuum. Many things happened. There was no shortage of data, and interesting phenomena were uncovered. About the only thing that did not happen was a clean UV spectrum of C2H. I would say, to put it bluntly, that from the perspective of our original goal the whole effort was a colossal failure. I rarely come up empty handed, but I did this time. Excuses are a dime a dozen, so let's just say that things like this happen every so often.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0003976
- OSTI ID:
- 1159163
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-USC-03976
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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