Faraday communications. Vibrational-state distribution of CO2 produced in the reaction between OH radicals and CO

Abstract

A tunable diode laser has been used to observe transient absorptions on transitions in the ν₃ infrared bands of CO₂ when it is formed as a product of the flash-initiated reaction between OH and CO. The absence of any population in excited states with ν₃ > 0 and the limited extent of excitation in the Fermi-linked ν₁ and ν₂ modes indicate that energy is released largely as repulsion following passage through a transition state in which the OCO atoms are close to their final structure in isolated CO₂.