Formation of association ions in the photoionization of alkyl halides

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

The methyl and ethyl chlorides and bromides, as well as methyl iodide, were photoionized in the vacuum ultraviolet at 300 K in a mass spectrometer over the pressure range 0.5 to approximately 100 millitorr. Under these conditions, stabilized parent ion dimers are found in CH3Br, CH3I, and C2H5Br, but not in the chlorides. Lower limits for the dissociative lifetimes of the ion–molecule collision complexes were estimated and are as follows: (CH3Br)2+, 1.6 μs; (CH3I)2+, 1.9 μs; and (C2H5Br)2+, 5.4 μs. An increase in photon energy (internal energy content of the reactant ion) decreases the dissociative lifetime of the collision complex in CH3I.