Photodissociation dynamics of benzoic acid.

The photodissociation of benzoic acid at 193 and 248 nm was investigated using multimass ion imaging techniques. Three dissociation channels were observed at 193 nm: (1) C(6)H(5)COOH-->C(6)H(5)+COOH, (2) C(6)H(5)COOH-->C(6)H(5)CO+OH, and (3) C(6)H(5)COOH-->C(6)H(6)+CO(2). Only channels, (2) and (3), were observed at 248 nm. Comparisons of the ion intensities and photofragment translational energy distributions with the potential energies obtained from ab initio calculations and the branching ratios obtained from the Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus theory suggest that the dissociation occurs on many electronic states.