Hydrogen migration in triply charged acetylene
Jatin Yadav, C. P. Safvan, Pragya Bhatt, Pooja Kumari, Aditya Kumar, Jyoti Rajput
Abstract
We report on the direct experimental evidence of hydrogen migration in triply charged acetylene. The roaming hydrogen atom in a triply charged molecular ion is counter intuitive. The three body breakup channel C2H23+→H++C++CH+ is studied using the technique of recoil ion momentum spectroscopy. The triply charged ion was generated in collisions of the neutral parent with a slow highly charged Xe9+ ion. Three different dissociation pathways have been identified and separated, namely, concerted breakup in an acetylene configuration, concerted breakup in a vinylidene configuration, and sequential breakup via a [C2H]2+ intermediate, and the branching ratio for all three pathways are determined.