Laser-induced fluorescence of methylidyne(A .rarw. X) from ion-molecule reactions of carbon monopositive ion(2P) with hydrocarbons at thermal energy

Vibrational distributions of CH(X/sup 2/)PI) radicals produced from ion-molecule reactions between C/sup +/(/sup 2/P) ions and ethylene, ethane, propylene, and propane have been studied in a flowing afterglow by a laser-induced fluorescence. The initial vibrational population ratios of CH(X:nu'' = 1/nu'' = 0) were similar (0.54-0.60) for all reactions. They were compared with statistical prior distributions for the three-body model in which polyatomic product ions were treated as atomic ions.