Collisional energy transfer in highly vibrationally excited molecules: A very low-pressure pyrolysis study of acetyl chloride

The average downward energy transfer (〈Δ E_down〉) is obtained for highly vibrationally excited acetyl chloride with Ne and C₂H₄ bath gases at ca. 870 K. Data are obtained by the technique of very low-pressure pyrolysis (VLPP). Fitting these data by solution of the appropriate reaction-diffusion integrodifferential master equation yields the gas/gas collisional energy transfer parameters: 〈Δ E_down〉 values are 220 ± 10 cm^?1 (Ne bath gas) and 330 ± 20 cm^?1 (C₂H₄). These energy transfer quantities are much less than those predicted by statistical theories, or those observed for similar sized molecules such as CH₃CH₂Cl. These results are explained by the qualitative predictions of the biased random walk model wherein the fundamental mechanism of energy transfer is the multiple interactions between the bath gas and the individual atoms of the reactant molecule, during the course of the collision event. The charge distribution of acetyl chloride decreases the number of such interactions, thereby reducing the amount of energy transferred per collision.