Photodissociation of alkyl bromides

The branching ratios for the production of Br(4²P_{$\text{1}\text{2}$}) following the broadband flash photolysis of the alkyl bromides, CH₃Br and C₂H₅Br, and the perfluorinated molecules, CF₃Br, C₂F₅ Br and n-C₃F₇ Br, have been determined using time-resolved atomic absorption spectroscopy. The production of electronically excited bromine atoms is shown to be inefficient in the case of the alkyl bromides while the perfluorinated molecules yield decreasing amounts of Br(4²P_{$\text{1}\text{2}$}) as the molecular complexity increases, i.e., CF₃Br > C₂F₅Br > C₃F₅Br > C₃F₇. It is also shown that the hydrogenated bromides deactive electronically excited atoms almost two orders of magnitude faster than do the perfluorinated bromides.