Negative ion–uranium hexafluoride charge transfer reactions

Abstract

The flowing afterglow technique has been used to study the process of charge transfer from selected negative ions (F⁻, Cl⁻, Br⁻, I⁻, SF₆⁻) to UF₆. The sole ionic product in all cases was observed to be UF₆⁻. Data analysis was complicated by an unexpected coupling of chemical and diffusive ion loss processes when UF₆⁻ product ions were present. The rate coefficients for the charge transfer processes are (k in 10⁻⁹ cm³ molecule⁻¹ s⁻¹) F⁻, 1.3; Cl⁻, 1.1; Br⁻, 0.93; I⁻, 0.77; and SF₆⁻, 0.69. The rate constants agree quite well with the classical Langevin predictions.