Infrared laser-induced photochemistry of cyclopropane

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Abstract
The ir laser photolysis of cyclopropane (CP), with the focused gigawatt power of the 9.552 μm(P20) line of a CO2 laser, results in two chemical processes. One, a non‐Boltzmann high energy decomposition, gives rise to the major products acetylene, propylene, methane, and ethylene and the minor product methylacetylene. The other is a typical flame reaction characterized by the luminescence of the C2+(d3Πg) Swan band. The latter process plays a minor role in terms of the precent consumption of CP. Both temporal and wavelength resolved spectroscopy were used in the identification of the emitting species as well as in the characterization of the elementary reactions producing them. In mixed CP–NO photolysis, CN+(B2Σ), C2+(d3Πg), CH+(A2Δ), and NH+(A3Π) were observed emitters, whereas only C2+(d3Πg) and CH(A 2Δ, B 2Σ−, and C 2Σ+) emissions were observed in the CP–O2 photolysis.