Orbital resonance in reactions of metal atoms with hydrocarbons

A theoretical treatment based on the concepts of orbital resonance is applied to data for reactions between excited 3d metal atoms and CH4 at 15 K. It is shown that both the energy of the interaction of the levels in the region of orbital resonance (as exemplified by the reaction Fe* + CH4) and the cross sections of the processes occurring under the conditions of orbital resonance (as exemplified by the charge transfer reaction) are satisfactorily described by the Breit-Wigner formula. A method is discussed for determining the width of the resonance and its energy from experimental data, and an analytical derivation of the resonance nature of the reaction of the levels when these are of the same energy is given. It is concluded that the resonance interactions are initiated when the reaction partners are far apart and can lead to cross sections greater than the geometrical values