Resolve the OH− channel mechanism via fragment kinetic energy measurements

Determine the kinetic energy distributions of the dissociation fragments produced in dissociative electron attachment to 1-propanol that yield OH−, in order to ascertain whether OH− formation proceeds via sequential dissociation through a C3H7 intermediate or via a concerted three-body (or higher-order) mechanism involving simultaneous C−O and C−H bond cleavage.

Background

The paper analyzes OH− formation from 1-propanol via potential dissociation pathways that either break only the C−O bond (yielding OH− + C3H7) or simultaneously break C−O and C−H bonds (yielding OH− + C3H6 + H). The authors note that the broad resonance near 8.7 eV likely involves Feshbach resonances and that the mechanism could be sequential (via a C3H7 intermediate) or concerted three-body dissociation.

The authors explicitly state that they cannot determine the mechanism because the kinetic energies of the fragments are unknown in the present paper, making fragment kinetic energy measurements a concrete unresolved requirement to clarify the pathway.