Product pair correlation in CH3OH photodissociation at 157 nm: the OH + CH3 channel.

The OH + CH(3) product channel for the photodissociation of CH(3)OH at 157 nm was investigated using the velocity map imaging technique with the detection of CH(3) radical products via (2+1) resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI). Images were measured for the CH(3) formed in the ground and excited states (v(2) = 0, 1, 2, and 3) of the umbrella vibrational mode and correlated OH vibrational state distributions were also determined. We find that the vibrational distribution of the OH fragment in the OH + CH(3) channel is clearly inverted. Anisotropic distributions for the CH(3) (v(2) = 0, 1, 2, and 3) products were also determined, which is indicative of a fast dissociation process for the C-O bond cleavage. A slower CH(3) product channel was also observed, that is assigned to a two-step photodissociation process, in which the first step is the production of a CH(3)O(X (2)E) radical via the cleavage of the O-H bond in CH(3)OH, followed by probe laser photodissociation of the nascent CH(3)O radicals yielding CH(3)(X (2)A(1), v = 0) products.