Flash photolysis of vanadium oxide trichloride vapour. Some new electronic transitions of VO

Abstract

Flash photolysis of VOCl₃ vapour under adiabatic conditions yielded in absorption the visible C⁴Σ^––X⁴Σ^– band system of VO, together with eight new, diffuse u.v. spectra of widely varying intensity, in the range 2300–3800 Å. A comparison is made with the known u.v. transitions of the analogous molecule TaO. No trace of a reported u.v. system near 4000 Å, attributed to matrix isolated VO, was observed. Ground and excited state vanadium atoms were detected, and both photolytic and pyrolytic decomposition modes of VOCl₃ are postulated.