Dynamics of the O(3P) + C2H4 reaction: identification of five primary product channels (vinoxy, acetyl, methyl, methylene, and ketene) and branching ratios by the crossed molecular beam technique with soft electron ionization

The crossed molecular beam scattering technique with soft electron ionization (EI) is used to disentangle the complex dynamics of the polyatomic O(3P) + C2H4 reaction, which is of great relevance in combustion and atmospheric chemistry. Exploiting the newly developed capability of attaining universal product detection by using soft EI, at a collision energy of 54.0 kJ mol(-1), five different primary products have been identified, which correspond to the five exoergic competing channels leading to CH2CHO(vinoxy) + H, CH3CO(acetyl) + H, CH3(methyl) + HCO(formyl), CH2(methylene) + HCHO(formaldehyde), and CH2CO(ketene) + H2. From laboratory product angular and velocity distributions, center-of-mass product angular and translational energy distributions and the relative branching ratios for each channel have been obtained, affording an unprecedented characterization of this important reaction.     

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.     

Crossed beam studies of elementary reactions of N and C atoms and CN radicals of importance in combustion

The dynamics of some elementary reactions of N(2D), C(3P,1D) and CN(X2 sigma +) of importance in combustion have been investigated by using the crossed molecular beam scattering method with mass spectrometric detection. The novel capability of producing intense, continuous beams of the radical reagents by a radio-frequency discharge beam source was exploited. From angular and velocity distribution measurements obtained in the laboratory frame, primary reaction products have been identified and their angular and translational energy distributions in the center-of-mass system, as well as branching ratios, have been derived. The dominant N/H exchange channel has been examined in the reaction N(2D) + CH4, which is found to lead to H + CH2NH (methylenimine) and H + CH3N (methylnitrene); no H2 elimination is observed. In the reaction N(2D) + H2O the N/H exchange channel has been found to occur via two competing pathways leading to HNO + H and HON + H, while formation of NO + H2 is negligible. Formation of H + H2CCCH (propargyl) is the dominant pathway, at low collision energy (Ec), of the C(3P) + C2H4 reaction, while at high Ec formation of the less stable C3H3 isomers (cyclopropenyl and/or propyn-1-yl) also occurs; the H2 elimination channel is negligible. The H elimination channel has also been found to be the dominant pathway in the C(3P,1D) + CH3CCH reaction leading to C4H3 isomers and, again, no H2 elimination has been observed to occur. In contrast, both H and H2 elimination, leading in comparable ratio to C3H + H and C3(X1 sigma g+) + H2(X1 sigma g+), respectively, have been observed in the reaction C(3P) + C2H2(X1 sigma g+). The occurrence of the spin-forbidden molecular pathway in this reaction, never detected before, has been rationalized by invoking the occurrence of intersystem crossing between triplet and singlet manifolds of the C3H2 potential energy surfaces. The reaction CN(X2 sigma +) + C2H2 has been found to lead to internally excited HCCCN (cyanoacetylene) + H. For all the reactions the dynamics have been discussed in the light of recent theoretical calculations on the relevant potential energy surfaces. Previous, lower resolution studies on C and CN reactions carried out using pulsed beams are noted. Finally, throughout the paper the relevance of these results to combustion chemistry is considered.     

New mechanistic insights to the O(3P) + propene reaction from multiplexed photoionization mass spectrometry

The reaction of O((3)P) with propene (C(3)H(6)) has been examined using tunable vacuum ultraviolet radiation and time-resolved multiplexed photoionization mass spectrometry at 4 Torr and 298 K. The temporal and isomeric resolution of these experiments allow the separation of primary from secondary reaction products and determination of branching ratios of 1.00, 0.91 ± 0.30, and 0.05 ± 0.04 for the primary product channels CH(3) + CH(2)CHO, C(2)H(5) + HCO, and H(2) + CH(3)CHCO, respectively. The H + CH(3)CHCHO product channel was not observable for technical reasons in these experiments, so literature values for the branching fraction of this channel were used to convert the measured product branching ratios to branching fractions. The results of the present study, in combination with past experimental and theoretical studies of O((3)P) + C(3)H(6), identify important pathways leading to products on the C(3)H(6)O potential energy surface (PES). The present results suggest that up to 40% of the total product yield may require intersystem crossing from the initial triplet C(3)H(6)O PES to the lower-lying singlet PES.     

Direct ab initio molecular dynamics study on a microsolvated SN2 reaction of OH-(H2O) with CH3Cl

Reaction dynamics for a microsolvated SN2 reaction OH-(H2O)+CH3Cl have been investigated by means of the direct ab initio molecular dynamics method. The relative center-of-mass collision energies were chosen as 10, 15, and 25 kcal/mol. Three reaction channels were found as products. These are (1) a channel leading to complete dissociation (the products are CH3OH+Cl- +H2O: denoted by channel I), (2) a solvation channel (the products are Cl-(H2O)+CH3OH: channel II), and (3) a complex formation channel (the products are CH3OH...H2O+Cl-: channel III). The branching ratios for the three channels were drastically changed as a function of center-of-mass collision energy. The ratio of complete dissociation channel (channel I) increased with increasing collision energy, whereas that of channel III decreased. The solvation channel (channel II) was minor at all collision energies. The selectivity of the reaction channels and the mechanism are discussed on the basis of the theoretical results.     

Barrierless reactions between two closed-shell molecules. I. Dynamics of F(2)+CH(3)SCH(3) reaction

A detailed experimental and theoretical investigation of the first-reported barrierless reaction between two closed-shell molecules [J. Chem. Phys. 127, 101101 (2007)] is presented. The translational energy and angular distributions of two product channels, HF+CH(2)SFCH(3) and F+CH(3)SFCH(3), determined at several collision energies, have been analyzed to reveal the dynamics of the studied reaction. Detailed analysis of the experimental and computational results supports the proposed reaction mechanism involving a short-lived F-F-S(CH(3))(2) intermediate, which can be formed without any activation energy. Other possible reaction mechanisms have been discriminated. The decay of the intermediate and competition between the two product channels have been discussed.     

Study of the C(3P) + OH(X2Pi) --> CO(X1Sigma(g)+) + H(2S) reaction: a fully global ab initio potential energy surface of the X2A' state

The C((3)P) + OH(X (2)Pi) --> CO(X (1)Sigma(g)(+)) + H((2)S) reaction has been investigated by ab initio electronic structure calculations of the X(2)A' state based on the multireference (MR) internally contracted single and double configuration interaction (SDCI) method plus Davidson correction (+Q) using Dunning aug-cc-pVQZ basis sets. In particular, the multireference space is taken to be a complete active space (CAS). Improvement over previously proposed potential energy surfaces for HCO/COH is obtained in the sense that present surface describes also the potential part where the CO interatomic distance is large. A large number of geometries (around 2000) have been calculated and analytically fitted using the reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS) method of Ho and Rabitz both for the two-body and three-body terms following the many-body decomposition of the total electronic energies. Results show that the global reaction is highly exothermic ( approximately 6.4 eV) and barrierless (relative to the reactant channel), while five potential barriers are located on this surface. The three minima and five saddle points observed are characterized and found to be in good agreement with previous work. The three minima correspond to the formation of HCO and COH complexes and to the CO + H products, with the COH complex being a metastable minimum relative to the product channel. The five saddle points correspond to potential barriers for both the dissociation/formation of HCO and COH into/from CO + H, to barriers for the isomerization of HCO into COH and to barriers for the inversion of HCO and COH through their respective linear configuration.     

Energy dependence of the roaming atom pathway in formaldehyde decomposition

Recently, a new mechanism of formaldehyde decomposition leading to molecular products CO and H(2) has been discovered, termed the "roaming atom" mechanism. Formaldehyde decomposition from the ground state via the roaming atom mechanism leads to rotationally cold CO and vibrationally hot H(2), whereas formaldehyde decomposition through the conventional molecular channel leads to rotationally hot CO and vibrationally cold H(2). This discovery has shown that it is possible to have multiple pathways for a reaction leading to the same products with dramatically different product state distributions. Detailed investigations of the dynamics of these two pathways have been reported recently. This paper focuses on an investigation of the energy dependence of the roaming atom mechanism up to 1500 cm(-1) above the threshold of the radical channel, H(2)CO-->H+HCO. The influence of excitation energy on the roaming atom and molecular elimination pathways is reported, and the branching fraction between the roaming atom channel and molecular channel is obtained using high-resolution dc slice imaging and photofragment excitation spectroscopy. From the branching fractions and the reaction rates of the radical channel, the overall competition between all three dissociation channels is estimated. These results are compared with recent quasiclassical trajectory calculations on a global H(2)CO potential energy surface.     

A combined crossed beam and theoretical investigation of O(3P) + C3H3 --> C3H2 + OH

The radical-radical reaction dynamics of ground-state atomic oxygen [O(3P)] with propargyl radicals (C3H3) has first been investigated in a crossed beam configuration. The radical reactants O(3P) and C3H3 were produced by the photodissociation of NO2 and the supersonic flash pyrolysis of precursor propargyl bromide, respectively. A new exothermic channel of O(3P) + C3H3 --> C3H2 + OH was identified and the nascent distributions of the product OH in the ground vibrational state (X 2Pi:nu" = 0) showed bimodal rotational excitations composed of the low- and high-N" components without spin-orbit propensities. The averaged ratios of Pi(A')/Pi(A") were determined to be 0.60 +/- 0.28. With the aid of ab initio theory it is predicted that on the lowest doublet potential energy surface, the reaction proceeds via the addition complexes formed through the barrierless addition of O(3P) to C3H3. The common direct abstraction pathway through a collinear geometry does not occur due to the high entrance barrier in our low collision energy regime. In addition, the major reaction channel is calculated to be the formation of propynal (CHCCHO) + H, and the counterpart C3H2 of the probed OH product in the title reaction is cyclopropenylidene (1c-C3H2) after considering the factors of barrier height, reaction enthalpy and structural features of the intermediates formed along the reaction coordinate. On the basis of the statistical prior and rotational surprisal analyses, the ratio of population partitioning for the low- and high-N" is found to be about 1:2, and the reaction is described in terms of two competing addition-complex mechanisms: a major short-lived dynamic complex and a minor long-lived statistical complex. The observed unusual reaction mechanism stands in sharp contrast with the reaction of O(3P) with allyl radical (C3H5), a second significant conjugated hydrocarbon radical, which shows totally dynamic processes [J. Chem. Phys. 117, 2017 (2002)], and should be understood based upon the characteristic electronic structures and reactivity of the intermediates on the potential energy surface.     

Quantum dynamics study on the product branching for the C(3P) + C2H2 reaction: cyclic-C3H versus linear-C3H

Reduced-dimensionality quantum reactive scattering calculations for the C(3P) + C2H2 reaction have been carried out in order to understand the product branching dynamics of cyclic-C3H + H and linear-C3H + H. Our model treats only two degrees of freedom but can explicitly describe both of the C3H isomer product channels. The lowest triplet potential energy surface has been obtained by the hybrid density-functional method at the B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) level of theory. The calculated reaction probabilities were found to be dominated by resonance consistent with the complex-formation potential, and the results show that cyclic-C3H is preferentially formed via the cyclic-C3H2 intermediate produced by insertion of C(3P) into the CC bond. We have found that the isomerization from the cyclic-C3H2 to linear-C3H2 intermediate is suppressed by a barrier separating potential wells corresponding to these two intermediates. It has also been found that the energy dependence of the calculated total reaction cross section is in good agreement with the result of crossed molecular beam experiments.     

Crossed beam studies of the reactions of atomic oxygen in the ground 3P and first electronically excited 1D states with hydrogen sulfide

The reactions of both ground, (3)P, and electronically excited, (1)D, oxygen atoms with hydrogen sulfide, H(2)S, have been investigated by means of the crossed molecular beams method with mass spectrometric detection at different collision energies. Amongst the possible reaction channels those leading to HSO+H for the O((3)P) reaction and to HSO/HOS+H and SO+H(2) for the O((1)D) reaction have been identified and investigated. The dynamics of the channels leading to HSO/HOS+H are elucidated for the reactions of both states and the trend with increasing the collision energy analyzed. Noteworthily, the formation of SO+H(2) products appears to be an open channel for the O((1)D) reaction, at least for the highest collision energy investigated (11.8 kcal/mol). Finally, the recent experimental and theoretical estimates of the enthalpy of formation of the HSO radical have been critically analyzed to evaluate their conformity with the present experimental data.     

Low temperature kinetics, crossed beam dynamics and theoretical studies of the reaction S((1)D) + CH4 and low temperature kinetics of S((1)D) + C2H2

The reaction between sulfur atoms in the first electronically excited state, S((1)D), and methane (CH(4)), has been investigated in a complementary fashion in (a) crossed-beam dynamics experiments with mass spectrometric detection and time-of-flight (TOF) analysis at two collision energies (30.4 and 33.6 kJ mol(-1)), (b) low temperature kinetics experiments ranging from 298 K down to 23 K, and (c) electronic structure calculations of stationary points and product energetics on the CH(4)S singlet potential energy surface. The rate coefficients for total loss of S((1)D) are found to be very large (ca. 2 × 10(-10) cm(3) molec(-1) s(-1)) down to very low temperatures indicating that the overall reaction is barrier-less. Similar measurements are also performed for S((1)D) + C(2)H(2), and also for this system the rate coefficients are found to be very large (ca. 3 × 10(-10) cm(3) molec(-1) s(-1)) down to very low temperatures. From laboratory angular and TOF distributions at different product masses for the reaction S((1)D) + CH(4), it is found that the only open reaction channel at the investigated collision energies is that leading to SH + CH(3). The product angular, T(θ), and translational energy, P(E'(T)), distributions in the center-of-mass frame are derived. The reaction dynamics are discussed in terms of two different micromechanisms: a dominant long-lived complex mechanism at small and intermediate impact parameters with a strongly polarized T(θ), and a direct pickup-type (stripping) mechanism occurring at large impact parameters with a strongly forward peaked T(θ). Interpretation of the experimental results on the S((1)D) + CH(4) reaction kinetics and dynamics is assisted by high-level theoretical calculations on the CH(4)S singlet potential energy surface. The dynamics of the SH + CH(3) forming channel are compared with those of the corresponding channel (leading to OH + CH(3)) in the related O((1)D) + CH(4) reaction, previously investigated in crossed-beams in other laboratories at comparable collision energies. The possible astrophysical relevance of S((1)D) reactions with hydrocarbons, especially in the chemistry of cometary comae, is discussed.     

Direct dynamics classical trajectory simulations of the O+ + CH4 reaction at hyperthermal energies

A Born-Oppenheimer direct dynamics simulation of the O(+) + CH(4) reaction dynamics at hyperthermal energies has been carried out with the PM3 (ground quartet state) Hamiltonian. Calculations were performed at various collision energies ranging from 0.5 to 10 eV with emphasis on high energy collisions where this reaction is relevant to materials erosion studies in low Earth orbit and geosynchronous Earth orbit. Charge transfer to give CH(4)(+) is the dominant channel arising from O(+) + CH(4) collisions in this energy range, but most of the emphasis in our study is on collisions that lead to reaction. All energetically accessible reaction channels were found, including products containing carbon-oxygen bonds, which is in agreement with the results of recent experiments. After correcting for compensating errors in competing reaction channels, our excitation functions show quantitative agreement with experiment (for which absolute magnitudes of cross sections are available) at high collision energies (several eV). More detailed properties, such as translational and angular distributions, show qualitative agreement. The opacity function reveals a high selectivity for producing OH(+) at high impact parameters, CH(3)(+)/CH(2)(+)/H(2)O(+) at intermediate impact parameters, and H(2)CO(+)/HCO(+)/CO(+) at small impact parameters. Angular distributions for CH(3)(+)/CH(2)(+)/OH(+) are forward scattered at high collision energies which implies the importance of direct reaction mechanisms, while reaction complexes play an important role at lower energies, especially for the H(2)O(+) product. Finally, we find that the nominally spin-forbidden product CH(3)(+) + OH can be produced by a spin-allowed pathway that involves the formation of the triplet excited product CH(3)(+)(?(3)E). This explains why CH(3)(+) can have a high cross section, even at very low collision energies. The results of this work suggest that the PM3 method may be applied directly to the study of O(+) reactions with small alkane molecules and polymer surfaces.     

Photodissociation dynamics of ketene at 157.6 nm

Photodissociation dynamics of ketene at 157.6 nm has been investigated using the photofragment translational spectroscopic technique based on photoionization detection using vacuum-ultraviolet synchrotron radiation. Three dissociation channels have been observed: CH2+CO, CH+HCO, and HCCO+H. The product translational energy distributions and angular anisotropy parameters were measured for all three observed dissociation channels, and the relative branching ratios for different channels were also estimated. The experimental results show that the direct C-C bond cleavage (CH2+CO) is the dominant channel, while H migration and elimination channels are very minor. The results in this work show that direct dissociation on excited electronic state is much more significant than the indirect dissociation via the ground state in the ketene photodissociation at 157.6 nm.     

UV photodissociation of ethylamine cation: a combined experimental and theoretical investigation

Direct current (DC) slice imaging of state-selected ions is combined with high-level ab initio calculations to give insight into reaction pathways, dynamics, and energetics for ethylamine cation photodissociation at 233 nm. These reaction pathways are of interest for understanding the rich chemistry of Titan's ionosphere recently revealed by the Cassini mission. The result for the H-loss product has a bimodal translational energy distribution, indicating two distinct H-loss pathways: these are assigned to triplet CH(3)CH(2)NH(+) product ions and the singlet CH(3)CHNH(2)(+) species. The distribution shows a modest fraction of energy available in translation and is consistent with barrierless dissociation from the ground state. HCNH(+) formation is observed as the dominant channel and exhibits a bimodal translational energy distribution with the faster component depicting a significant angular anisotropy. This suggests a direct excited-state decay pathway for this portion of the distribution. We have also observed the H + H(2) loss product as a minor secondary dissociation channel, which correlates well with the formation of CH(2)CNH(2)(+) ion with an exit barrier.     

Theoretical study on the reaction mechanism of vinyl radical with formaldehyde

A detailed computational study is performed on the radical-molecule reaction between the vinyl radical (C2H3) and formaldehyde (H2CO), for which only the direct hydrogen abstraction channel has been considered by previous and very recent theoretical studies. At the Gaussian-3//B3LYP/6-31G(d) and CBS-QB3 levels, the direct H-abstraction forming C2H4 + HCO has barriers of 3.9 and 4.7 kcal/mol, respectively. The addition barrier to form H2CCHCH2O has barriers of 2.8 and 2.3 kcal/mol, respectively. Subsequently, there are two highly competitive dissociation pathways for H2CCHCH2O: One is the formation of the direct H-extrusion product H2CCHCHO + H, and the other is the formation of C2H4 + HCO via the intermediate H2CCH2CHO. Surely, the released energy is large enough to drive the secondary dissociation of HCO to H + CO. Because the involved transition states and intermediates of the H2CCHCH2O evolution all lie energetically lower than the entrance addition transition state, the addition-elimination is more competitive than the direct H-transfer for the C2H3 + H2CO reaction, in contrast to previous expectation. The present results can be useful for future experimental investigation on the title reaction.     

Unraveling the dynamics of the C(3P,1D) + C2H2 reactions by the crossed molecular beam scattering technique

A detailed investigation of the dynamics of the reactions of ground- and excited-state carbon atoms, C(3P) and C(1D), with acetylene is reported over a wide collision energy range (3.6-49.1 kJ mol-1) using the crossed molecular beam (CMB) scattering technique with electron ionization mass spectrometric detection and time-of-flight (TOF) analysis. We have exploited the capability of (a) generating continuous intense supersonic beams of C(3P, 1D), (b) crossing the two reactant beams at different intersection angles (45, 90, and 135 degrees ) to attain a wide range of collision energies, and (c) tuning the energy of the ionizing electrons to low values (soft ionization) to suppress interferences from dissociative ionization processes. From angular and TOF distribution measurements of products at m/z=37 and 36, the primary reaction products of the C(3P) and C(1D) reactions with C2H2 have been identified to be cyclic (c)-C3H + H, linear (l)-C3H + H, and C3 + H2. From the data analysis, product angular and translational energy distributions in the center-of-mass (CM) system for both the linear and cyclic C3H isomers as well as the C3 product from C(3P) and for l/c-C3H and C3 from C(1D) have been derived as a function of collision energy from 3.6 to 49.1 kJ mol-1. The cyclic/linear C3H ratio and the C3/(C3 + c/l-C3H) branching ratios for the C(3P) reaction have been determined as a function of collision energy. The present findings have been compared with those from previous CMB studies using pulsed beams; here, a marked contrast is noted in the CM angular distributions for both C3H- and C3-forming channels from C(3P) and their trend with collision energy. Consequently, the interpretation of the reaction dynamics derived in the present work contradicts that previously proposed from the pulsed CMB studies. The results have been discussed in the light of the available theoretical information on the relevant triplet and singlet C3H2 ab initio potential energy surfaces (PESs). In particular, the branching ratios for the C(3P) + C2H2 reaction have been compared with the available theoretical predictions (approximate quantum scattering calculations and quasiclassical trajectory calculations on ab initio triplet PESs and, very recent, statistical calculations on ab initio triplet PESs as well as on ab initio triplet/singlet PESs including nonadiabatic effects, that is, intersystem crossing). While the experimental branching ratios have been corroborated by the statistical predictions, strong disagreement has been found with the results of the dynamical calculations. The astrophysical implications of the present results have been noted.     

Quasi-classical trajectory calculations analyzing the dynamics of the C-H stretch mode excitation in the H+CHD3 reaction

A state-to-state dynamics study was performed at a collision energy of 1.53 eV to analyze the effect of the C-H stretch mode excitation on the dynamics of the gas-phase H+CHD3 reaction, which can evolve along two channels, H-abstraction, CD3+H2, and D-abstraction, CHD2+HD. Quasi-classical trajectory calculations were performed on an analytical potential energy surface constructed previously by our group. First, strong coupling between different vibrational modes in the entry channel was observed; i.e., the reaction is non-adiabatic. Second, we found that the C-H stretch mode excitation has little influence on the product rotational distributions for both channels, and on the vibrational distribution for the CD3+H2 channel. However, it has significant influence on the product vibrational distribution for the CHD2+HD channel, where the C-H stretch excitation is maintained in the products, i.e., the reaction shows mode selectivity, reproducing the experimental evidence. Third, the C-H stretch excitation by one quantum increases the reactivity of the vibrational ground-state, in agreement with experiment. Fourth, the state-to-state angular distributions of the CD3 and CHD2 products are reported, finding that for the reactant ground-state the products are practically sideways, whereas the C-H excitation yields a more forward scattering.     

Exploring the dynamics of hydrogen atom release from the radical-radical reaction of O(3P) with C3H5

The gas-phase radical-radical reaction dynamics of O(3P) + C3H5 --> H(2S) + C3H4O was studied at an average collision energy of 6.4 kcal/mol in a crossed beam configuration. The ground-state atomic oxygen [O(3P)] and allyl radicals (C3H5) were generated by the photolysis of NO2 and the supersonic flash pyrolysis of allyl iodide, respectively. Nascent hydrogen atom products were probed by the vacuum-ultraviolet-laser induced fluorescence spectroscopy in the Lyman-alpha region centered at 121.6 nm. With the aid of the CBS-QB3 level of ab initio theory, it has been found that the barrierless addition of O(3P) to C3H5 forms the energy-rich addition complexes on the lowest doublet potential energy surface, which are predicted to undergo a subsequent direct decomposition step leading to the reaction products H + C3H4O. The major counterpart C3H4O of the probed hydrogen atom is calculated to be acrolein after taking into account the factors of barrier height, reaction enthalpy, and the number of intermediates involved along the reaction pathway. The nascent H-atom Doppler profile analysis shows that the average center-of-mass translational energy of the H + C3H4O products and the fraction of the total available energy released as the translational energy were determined to be 3.83 kcal/mol and 0.054, respectively. On the basis of comparison with statistical calculations, the reaction proceeds through the formation of short-lived addition complexes rather than statistical, long-lived intermediates, and the polyatomic acrolein product is significantly internally excited at the moment of the decomposition.