Observation of dihalide elimination upon electron attachment to oxalyl chloride and oxalyl bromide, 300-550 K.

Rate coefficients have been measured for electron attachment to oxalyl chloride [ClC(O)C(O)Cl] and oxalyl bromide [BrC(O)C(O)Br] in He gas at 133 Pa pressure over the temperature range of 300-550 K. With oxalyl chloride, the major ion product of attachment is Cl2(-) at all temperatures (66% at 300 K); its importance increases slightly as temperature increases. Two other product ions formed are Cl- (18% at 300 K) and the phosgene anion CCl2O- (16% at 300 K) and appear to arise from a common mechanism.