Fulvenallene is the primary dissociation product of the benzyl radical, which is ubiquitous in combustion schemes for aromatic hydrocarbons. Theory work on fulvenallene has predicted two competing dissociation pathways, however there has been no experimental work done that is capable of detecting all possible product channels. This work presents the UV photodissociation of fulvenallene using photofragment translational spectroscopy with a universal detector. Time of flight spectra indicate the presence of only H atom loss to form the fulvenallenyl radical. A center of mass translational energy distribution is determined for this channel that suggests a statistical dissociation on the ground state surface. At high laser power, additional features are observed in the time of flight spectra, which are assigned to the subsequent photodissociation of the fulvenallenyl radical. This is the first observation of fulvenallenyl radical photodissociation and two pathways are detected: C5H3 + C2H2 and C4H2 + C3H3. Center of mass translational energy distributions are determined for both channels and they suggest a ground state statistical dissociation over a barrier. The branching ratio between these two observed dissociation channels will also be discussed.

Fulvenallene and fulvenallenyl photodissociation dynamics at 248 nm

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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