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.