PHOTODISSOCIATION OF DICHLOROCARBENE CCL2 AT 248 NM IN A COLD BEAM

The photodissociation of the dichlorocarbene radical CCl2 at 248 nm has been studied by photofragment translational spectroscopy. An intense beam of cold CCl2 was generated from CHCl3 by a pulsed molecular beam source equipped with a flash pyrolysis nozzle. The photolysis proceeds exclusively via C-Cl bond fission yielding CCl + Cl. The photofragment recoil distributions imply that more than 60% of the available energy is channeled into the internal degree of freedom of CCl and that the angular distribution is almost isotropic.