EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON THE FORMATION AND AUTODESTRUCTION OF PARENT ANIONS

The effect of temperature on the formation and autodestruction processes of parent anions has been studied for the molecules SF(6), c-C(4)F(6) and C(6)F(6) in a buffer gas of N(2). These processes were studied in the temperature, T, range 300-600 K and over the mean electron energy range [epsilon] = 0.2-1.0 eV. The formation of parent anions seems to depend very little on changes in T below 600 K for all three molecules. However, increases in T from ambient to 600 K enhance dramatically the autodetachment frequency for c-C(4)F(6)(-) and C(4)F(6)(-). This heat-activated autodetachment is related to increases in the internal energy content of the anion and is found to have activation energies of 0.237 and 0.477 eV for c-C(4)F(6)(-) and C(6)F(6)(-), respectively. Under the same experimental conditions the stabilized SF(6)(-) anion does not undergo heat-activated autodetachment.