Knowledge Bank

The technique of laser electric resonance spectroscopy has been applied to the products of the reaction between formaldehyde and fluorine atoms, in an attempt to observe the $\nu 2$ fundamental of the HCO free radical near 1080 $cm-1$, The fluorine was generated by means of a microwave discharge excited in $CF4$ gas flowing through a quartz tube. Spectra which may be assigned to three species have been observed. One of these has been identified unambiguously as HFCO, presumably formed by reaction of $F2$ molecules with $H2CO$, and another is probably $F2CO$, The third species, for which only a few transitions have been observed, is probably HCO; we are currently concentrating on its analysis.