The dissociative dynamics of furfural (furan-2-carbaldehyde) have been studied using the iPEPICO (imaging photoelectron photoion coincidence) apparatus located at the Swiss Light Source at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Villigen, Switzerland. Analysis of the unimolecular photodissociation reaction has shown the formation of novel pathways through rearrangement of this heavily conjugated aldehyde leading to the formation of various fragments. The experimentally observed mass fragments based on TOF-MS analysis are m/z 95, 68, 42, 40, 39, and 29. Through the analysis of the computed and experimentally determined unimolecular dissociation rates as well as comparisons with an independent study on the pyrolysis of furfural as well as an independent PEPICO study on the structurally similar furan, it can so far be concluded that in the energy range 10.8-16 eV furfural dissociates into C5H3O2+, C4H4O+, C2H2O+, C3H4+, C3H3+, and CHO+. Gaussian09 CBS-QB3 ab initio MO calculations were used to calculate the relative energies and stabilities of the fragments formed.

Furfural: Unimolecular photodissociation reactions of the simplest furanic aldehyde

251st National Meeting (2016)

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