Study of surface reactions and intermediates of ICH2CH2OH and ClCH2CH2OH on oxygen-precovered Cu(1 0 0)

ICH2CH2OH decomposes into an oxametallacycle (–CH2CH2O–) upon its adsorption on oxygen-precovered Cu(1 0 0) (O/Cu(1 0 0)) at 115 K. –CH2CH2O– on O/Cu(1 0 0) reacts mainly to form C2H4 and CH3CHO. ClCH2CH2OH dissociates on O/Cu(1 0 0) to generate ClCH2CH2O–, instead of –CH2CH2O–, between 170 and 210 K. ClCH2CH2O– reacts on the surface to form C2H4 and CH3CHO. In addition, ClCHCH2 is also generated, probably from ClCH2CH2OH or ClCH2CH2O–. No ClCH2CHO desorption is observed in contrast to the case of FCH2CH2O- which reacts to form FCH2CHO. Clearly, the carbon–halogen bond strength has a profound effect on the decomposition pathway of 2-haloethanol.