Thermochemistry and dissociative photoionization of Si(CH3)4, BrSi(CH3)3, ISi(CH3)3, and Si2(CH3)6 studied by threshold photoelectron-photoion coincidence spectroscopy

Threshold photoelectron-photoion coincidence spectroscopy (TPEPICO) has been used to study the dissociation kinetics and thermochemistry of Me(4)Si, Me(6)Si(2), and Me(3)SiX, (X = Br, I) molecules. Accurate 0 K dissociative photoionization onsets for these species have been measured from the breakdown diagram and the ion time-of-flight distribution, both of them analyzed and simulated in terms of the statistical RRKM theory and DFT calculations. The average enthalpy of formation of trimethylsilyl ion, Delta fH(o)298K(Me(3)Si(+)) = 617.3 +/- 2.3 kJ/mol, has been determined from the measured onsets for methyl loss (10.243 +/- 0.010 eV) from Me(4)Si, and Br and I loss from Me(3)SiBr (10.624 +/- 0.010 eV) and Me(3)SiI (9.773 +/- 0.015 eV), respectively. The methyl loss onsets for the trimethyl halo silanes lead to Delta fH(o)298K(Me(2)SiBr(+)) = 590.3 +/- 4.4 kJ/mol and Delta fH(o)298K(Me(5)Si(2)(+)) = 487.6 +/- 6.2 kJ/mol. The dissociative photoionization of Me(3)SiSiMe(3) proceeds by a very slow Si-Si bond breaking step, whose rate constants were measured as a function of the ion internal energy. Extrapolation of this rate constant to the dissociation limit leads to the 0 K dissociation onset (9.670 +/- 0.030 eV). This onset, along with the previously determined trimethylsilyl ion energy, leads to an enthalpy of formation of the trimethylsilyl radical, Delta fH(o)298K(Me(3)Si(*)) = 14.0 +/- 6.6 kJ/mol. In combination with other experimental values, we propose a more accurate average value for Delta fH(o)298K(Me(3)Si(*)) of 14.8 +/- 2.0 kJ/mol. Finally, the bond dissociation enthalpies (DeltaH(298K)) Si-H, Si-C, Si-X (X=Cl, Br, I) and Si-Si are derived and discussed in this study.