Dissociative Attachment in Selected Monochloroalkanes

The total cross sections for the dissociative attachment (DA) process are reported for eight normal chloroalkanes CnH2n+1Cl for n=2–9, two secondary compounds 2-chloropropane and 2-chlorobutane, one tertiary compound t-butyl chloride, and three cyclic chloroalkanes c-CnH2n-1Cl for n=4–6, for electron energies below 4 eV. Using vertical attachment energies (VAEs) determined by electron transmission spectroscopy elsewhere and in this work, we show that the resonance widths vary linearly with VAE in this series of compounds and that the peak DA cross sections decline exponentially with increasing VAE. The small upper bound to the DA cross section reported previously for methyl chloride is discussed and is consistent with the measurements made on the remaining chloroalkanes