AVS 49th International Symposium
    Surface Science Wednesday Sessions
       Session SS1-WeA

Paper SS1-WeA9
Photochemistry of Caged Molecules: CD@SUB 3@Cl in Ice

Wednesday, November 6, 2002, 4:40 pm, Room C-108

Session: Gas-Surface Dynamics
Presenter: M. Asscher, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Authors: M. Asscher, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Y. Lilach, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Correspondent: Click to Email
The interaction of two similar coadsorbed dipolar molecules, H@sub 2@O and CD@sub 3@Cl, has been studied over Ru(001) under UHV conditions. The complementary techniques of @delta@P-TPD and work function change in a @delta@@phi@-TPD mode were employed. Post-adsorption of water leads initially to compression, reorientation and then to the formation of CD@sub 3@Cl layers that are encapsulated between amorphous solid water layers. These caged molecules are explosively desorb at 165K. Unique photochemical reactivity is displayed by the trapped methyl chloride molecules upon irradiation by 6.4 eV photons from an ArF excimer laser. Radical chemistry based on hot, photochemically generated methyl fragments, lead to the formation of longer chain hydrocarbons as well as oxygenated products. The relevance of these observations to the origin of interstellar hydrocarbons is discussed.