Dynamics of formation of CN(B2Σ+) fragment from HCN and DCN in an argon afterglow

The dissociative excitation of HCN and DCN producing CN(B²Σ⁺) in collision with Ar(³P_0,2) was investigated in a flowing afterglow. The Δν = 0, ?1, and ?2 sequences of the CN(BX) violet emission were analyzed by computer simulation, and the vibrational and rotational distributions of the CN(B²Σ⁺) fragment were obtained. Possible reaction pathways were studied on the basis of a linear surprisal analysis of the observed distributions and their isotope effects.