Crossed-beam chemiluminescent reactions of titanium and vanadium with O2

Abstract

Titanium and vanadium have been reacted with O₂ under crossed‐beam conditions to form the TiO A ³Φ, B ³Π, C ³Δ, and E ³Π states and the VO B ⁴Π state. By heating and seeding the O₂ nozzle beam the Ti reaction has been studied at relative collision energies of 4.0, 7.6, and 13.3 kcal/mol, and the V reaction at 3.9, 6.9, 7.6, and 13.1 kcal/mol. Computer simulations of the spectra yield relative rates for formation of TiO(A) and VO(B) vibrational states, which are slightly more excited than the ’’prior’’ model predictions. Increasing the relative collision energy does increase the production of all the electronically excited states, but the VO B state population does not increase as quickly as expected from the prior model. The dependence of the chemiluminescent signals on the metal source temperature suggests reaction of ground state Ti to form TiO(A), but metastable V to form VO (B).