Photodissociation of acrylonitrile at 193 nm: A photofragment translational spectroscopy study using synchrotron radiation for product photoionization

We have investigated the photodissociation of acrylonitrile (H₂CCHCN) at 193 nm using the technique of photofragment translational spectroscopy. The experiments were performed at the Chemical Dynamics Beamline at the Advanced Light Source and used tunable vacuum ultraviolet synchrotron radiation for product photoionization. We have identified four primary dissociation channels including atomic and molecular hydrogen elimination. HCN elimination, and CN elimination. There is significant evidence that all of the dissociation channels occur on the ground electronic surface following internal conversion from the initially optically prepared state. The product translational energy distributions reflect near statistical simple bond rupture for the radical dissociation channels, while substantial recombination barriers mediate the translational energy release for the two molecular elimination channels. Photoionization onsets have provided additional insight into the chemical identities of the products and their internal energy content.