Argon matrix infrared spectra of CF3OOF and CF3OOOCF3 and their photolysis products. Spectroscopic evidence for the CF3OO radical

Ultraviolet photolysis of fluoroperoxytrifluoromethane, CF3OOF, in argon matrices at 8 degreeK produced CF4 and a new species, tentatively identified as the CF3OO radical, with infrared absorptions at 1173.7 and 1094.1 cm-1. This species was also produced, along with CF4, CF3OCF3, and COF2, by photolysis of bistrifluoromethyl trioxide, CF3OOOCF3, at wavelengths below 300 nm. In the latter case, extensive isotopic labeling experiments with CF316O16O16OCF3, CF316O18O16OCF3, CF318O16O18OCF3, and CF318O18O18OCF3 led to the observation of four distinct isotopic absorptions for the O--O stretching vibration (1094.1 cm), thus confirming the nonequivalent oxygen atom structure of CF3OO