Knowledge Bank

We report the infrared absorption spectra of large methanol clusters ($CH3OH)N,N\simeq 30$) generated in a supersonic expansion via vibrational perdissociation. Spectra were recorded in the $9.6mu$ and $10.6\mu$ region using a cw $CO2$ laser. In addition to the absorption feature centered about $1040cm-1$ arising from the excitation of the C-O stretch ($\nu 4$ mode) in the methanol monomers, a continuum absorption in the $10.6\mu$ region from the excitation of the intermolecular modes has also been observed. The internal temperature, energy redistribution and binding energies will be discussed with respect to the observed vibrational predissociation.