FURTHER COMMENTS ABOUT THE REAGENT ENERGY EFFECT ON THE B((2)P)+OH((2)PI)-]BO((2)SIGMA+)+H((2)S) REACTION

The effect of changing reagent vibrational and rotational energies (E(V) and E(R) respectively) on the reaction rate has been analysed for the strongly exoergic B(2P) + OH(2-PI) --> BO(2-SIGMA+) + H(2S) reaction by considering 28 different rovibrational levels at a fixed translational energy (E(T)). The results were derived from quasiclassicaL 3D trajectory calculations by using a reasonable potential-energy surface (PES) model that has been tested previously. The effect of reagent rotational energy appears to be correlated with the reaction 'steric requirements'. Results seem to suggest the existence of coupling between vibration and rotation of the reactants. On the other hand, while an augmentation in translational energy has already been proved to lengthen the lifetime of the collision complex, no such effect was observed when the internal energy was increased.