A crossed molecular beam study of the O(1D) + C(3)H(8) reaction: multiple reaction pathways.

The O((1)D) + C(3)H(8) reaction has been reinvestigated using the universal crossed molecular beam method. Three reaction channels, CH(3) + C(2)H(4)OH, C(2)H(5) + CH(2)OH, and OH + C(3)H(7), have been observed. All three channels are significant in the title reaction with the C(2)H(5) formation process to be the most important, while the CH(3) formation and the OH formation channels are about equal. Product kinetic energy distributions and angular distributions have been determined for the three reaction channels observed. The oxygen-containing radicals in the CH(3) and C(2)H(5) formation pathways show forward-backward symmetric angular distribution relative to the O atom beam, while the OH product shows a clearly forward angular distribution. These results indicate that the OH formation channel seems to exhibit different dynamics from the CH(3) and C(2)H(5) channels.