RF09		15min3:57

BRAD ROWLAND AND WAYNE HESS, Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories, PO Box 999, Richland, WA. 99352, Mail Stop K2-14.

The UV irradiation of amorphous and crystalline acetyl chloride samples at ~10K produces dimer complexes of ketene and HCl molecules. We use infrared spectroscopy to study the vibrational spectra of the ketene-HCl complexes formed by the elimination of HCl within the 3 um thick acetyl chloride film. Ab-Initio calculations are used to facilitate the interpretation of the infrared spectra and to obtain optimized geometries for the complexes. The formation of ketene-HCl complexes is reversible at temperatures that exceed ~50K. Rate information and an activation energy are obtained for the reverse reaction of the most abundant ketene-HCl conformation.