REACTION OF MAGNETICALLY STATE SELECTED NO WITH O-3 - EFFECT OF FS STATES AND ROTATIONAL STATES ON REACTIVITY

The visible chemiluminescent channel of the NO + O3→NO 2 + O2 reaction is studied to determine the effect of the NO fs states (2Π1/2 and 2Π3/2) on reactivity. Chemiluminescence is observed from an ozone-filled scattering cell through which a NO beam passes. Molecules in both the upper and lower fs states are present in the beam, and the intensity of molecules in the upper state can be enhanced by magnetic focusing. Although the beam intensity is observed to increase upon focusing, the increase in chemiluminescence is much smaller showing that the upper state is not solely responsible for chemiluminescence. However, the magnetically selected molecules are rotationally cooler than the unselected molecules, and a reasonable interpretation of the small increase in chemiluminescence is that for the chemiluminescent channel both fs states are equally reactive, but that the reactive cross section increases rapidly with rotational state. © 1980 American Institute of Physics.