A crossed molecular beam imaging study of the O(1D2) + HCl → OH+Cl(2P J=3/2,1/2) reaction

A crossed molecular beam study is presented for the O(D-1(2))+ HCl -> OH + CI(P-2(1)) reaction at the collision energy of 6 kcal mol(-1). State-resolved doubly differential cross sections are obtained for the CI(P-2(J)=(3/2)) and CI*(P-2(J)=(1/2)) products by velocity-map ion imaging. Both products are slightly more forward scattered, which suggests a reaction mechanism without a long-lived intermediate in the ground electronic state. A small fraction (23%) of the energy release into the translational degree of freedom indicates strong internal excitation of the counterpart OH radical. The contribution of the electronic excited states of O-HCl to the overall reaction is also examined from the doubly differential cross sections.