The dissociation energy of TiO determined from a crossed-beam study of the Ti + NO → TiO + N reaction

The Ti + NO → TiO + N reaction has been studied with pulsed, crossed, supersonic molecular beams, at relative translational energies between 0.2 and 0.6 eV, with the Ti, NO reactants and the TiO product being probed by laser-induced fluorescence. The reactive channel Ti(3FJ) + NO(X 2Πr) → TiO(a 1Δ) + N(4S32) has been identified through the detection of the β(c 1Φ ← a 1Δ) Δv = 0 transitions of TiO. Analysis of the TiO(a 1Δ) rovibrational energy close to the threshold for production of v = 1 leads to a reaction exoergicity, Δε0, of −0.37−0.05+0.07 eV for the production of ground-state products TiO(X 3Δ) + N(4S32) and to a TiO bond-dissociation energy, D0(TiO), equal to 6.87−0.05+0.07 eV.