UV photodissociation dynamics of the acetone oxide Criegee intermediate: experiment and theory.

The photodissociation dynamics of the dimethyl-substituted acetone oxide Criegee intermediate [(CH)COO] is characterized following electronic excitation to the bright ππ* state, which leads to O (D) + acetone [(CH)CO, S] products. The UV action spectrum of (CH)COO recorded with O (D) detection under jet-cooled conditions is broad, unstructured, and essentially unchanged from the corresponding electronic absorption spectrum obtained using a UV-induced depletion method. This indicates that UV excitation of (CH)COO leads predominantly to the O (D) product channel. A higher energy O (P) + (CH)CO (T) product channel is not observed, although it is energetically accessible. In addition, complementary MS-CASPT2 trajectory surface-hopping (TSH) simulations indicate minimal population leading to the O (P) channel and non-unity overall probability for dissociation (within 100 fs). Velocity map imaging of the O (D) products is utilized to reveal the total kinetic energy release (TKER) distribution upon photodissociation of (CH)COO at various UV excitation energies. Simulation of the TKER distributions is performed using a hybrid model that combines an impulsive model with a statistical component, the latter reflecting the longer-lived (>100 fs) trajectories identified in the TSH calculations. The impulsive model accounts for vibrational activation of (CH)CO arising from geometrical changes between the Criegee intermediate and the carbonyl product, indicating the importance of CO stretch, CCO bend, and CC stretch along with activation of hindered rotation and rock of the methyl groups in the (CH)CO product. Detailed comparison is also made with the TKER distribution arising from photodissociation dynamics of CHOO upon UV excitation.