H atom elimination from the πσ* state in the photodissociation of phenol

Photodissociation of phenol at 248 nm was studied using multimass ion imaging techniques. Photofragment translational energy distribution of H atom elimination was measured. The results demonstrate that H atom elimination occurs on the pisigma* excited state which has repulsive potential-energy functions with respect to the stretching of OH bond. It supports the recent ab initio calculation. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.