Nascent rotational and vibrational distributions in both products of the reaction Zn(4 ¹P₁) + H₂O → ZnH(X ²Σ⁺) + OH(X ²Π)

The reaction Zn(4 ¹P₁) + H₂O → ZnH(X ²Σ⁺) + OH(X ²Π) was studied under thermal equilibrium conditions at 700 K. The nascent internal state distributions of both products ZnH and OH were determined by using a pump-and-probe technique. The rotational distributions of ZnH and OH were both Boltzmann-like for their v″ = 0 vibrational levels. However, the rotational temperatures were significantly different - 12 000 K for ZnH and 900 K for OH. ZnH was also vibrationally excited. The nascent vibrational distribution of ZnH was determined to be 10(v″ = 0):13(v″ = 1):7(v″ = 2):2(v″ = 3). In contrast, no excitation in the OH vibration was observed. Such a nonstatistical energy partitioning is explained by considering a short-lived Zn-H-OH intermediate in a nonlinear geometry.