Studies of chemiluminescence in boron atom reactions

Chemiluminescence has been observed in the single collision reactions of boron atoms with O2, SO2, N2O, NO2, and H2O2. The experiments were performed in a beam-gas apparatus using photon counting to detect the optical signals. The electronically excited A2pi state of BO was observed in all the reactions. In addition the BO- excited state, B2μ+, was observed in the reaction of boron with N2O. Excited BO2 (A2pi/sub u/) was observed in the reaction with SO2 and excited OH (A2μ+) was observed in the reaction with H2O2. Cross sections for the production of electronically excited molecules were determined. These cross sections for the reactions with O2, SO2, N2O, NO2, and H2O2 are, respectively, 0.048 A2, 0.078 A2, 0.011 A2, 0.19 A2, and 0.0058 A2. In those reactions involving more than one chemiluminescent product channel, branching ratios were obtained for the observed products. The vibrational distributions in the electronically excited states of BO were determined for all the reactions and were analyzed using information theory. Some implications of the results are discussed