H and CH3 eliminations in the photodissociation of chlorotoluene

Photodissociation of o-, m-, and p-chlorotoluene at 193 nm under collision-free conditions has been studied using multimass ion imaging techniques. In addition to the Cl atom elimination, photofragments corresponding to the reactions of C6H4ClCH3→C6H4ClCH2+H and C6H4ClCH3→C6H4Cl+CH3 were observed. Dissociation rates and fragment translational energy distributions were measured. A comparison with RRKM calculation has been made and the possible dissociation mechanism was discussed.