Knowledge Bank

Fluorescence quantum yields of single vibronic bands of formyl fluoride (HFCO) and deuterated formyl fluoride (DFCO) were obtained near the origin of the $\mathrm{<mrow\; data-mjx-texclass="ORD">1</mrow>}(\pi ,\Pi \ast )A~1A\leftarrow X~1A\prime$ system. Yields range between $10-4$ to $10-2$ for HFCO and between $10-3$ to $10-1$ for DFCO; photochemical reaction [cf. D. E. Klimek and M. J. Berry, Chem. Phys. Letters 20, 141 (1973)] predominates at all wavelengths. A chemical laser technique was used to measure vibronic state distributions of hydrogen fluoride produced by flash photolysis of HFCO; only a modest portion (ca. 10%) of the available energy is partitioned into vibrational excitation of this photochemical product. Probe laser techniques are being used to determine vibronic state distributions of the CO photochemical product of HFCO photolysis.