
Journal of Chemical Physics p. 6898 - 6910 (1988)
Update date:2022-07-29
Topics:
Weber, M. E.
Armentrout, P. B.
The title reaction is studied using guided ion beam mass spectrometry.Absolute reaction cross sections are measured as a function of kinetic energy from thermal to 40 eV, and three endothermic product channels are observed.The dominant SiF+ + SiF3 channel is only slightly endothermic, while the SiF3+ + SiF and SiF2+ + SiF2+ channels have much higher thresholds.The SiF3+ cross section magnitude is about half that of SiF+, while the SiF2+ cross section is an order of magnitude smaller than that of SiF+.A second feature which appears in the SiF2+ cross section is due to dissociation of SiF3+ .There is evidence that SiF+ and SiF3+ are produced via a direct mechanism.Competition between these two channels is interpreted in terms of molecular orbital correlations and qualitative potential energy surfaces.One surface is found to correlate only with the SiF3+ + SiF channel, while another correlates diabatically with this channel and adiabatically with the SiF+ + SiF3 channel.Competition on this latter surface has an energy dependence which is consistent with the Landau-Zener model.Reaction thresholds are analyzed to yield 298 K heats of formation for SiFx and SiFx+ species.From an evaluation of these and literature values, we recommend the following values: