Ionization and dissociation of the trifluoromethyl halides by electron impact

l,bundances an d a ppearance potential s a re reported for positive a nd negativ e i on~ obse rved in CF4, CF3CI, CF3Br, a nd CF3I. The kin etic-energy distribution of pos itive ions is obtain ed by means of a " bealIl-d eAection" tech niqu e. These da ta combin ed with that of recent t hermochem ical a nd spectroscop ic studies perm it a n ew calcu lation of t he io ni;l;ation potential of the CF3 r ad ical of 9.3 O.2 electron volts, as well as estimates of fluorocarbon bond-dissociation energies. The energeties of probablc di ssociation processC's are di ~c u sse d.