The reactions of xenon and mercury with Hg(P-3(0))

An emission band arising from a charge-transfer complex of Xe and Hg( P-3(0)) has been observed during 253.7 nm irradiation of mixtures of mercury and xenon, both with and without the addition of nitrogen to promote the formation of metastable mercury atoms. Helium, neon, argon and krypton gave no comparable luminescence but merely broadened the Hg 253.7 nm line. The rate constant for reaction of Xe with Hg(P-3(0)), as determined by a rotating sector method, is (3.8 +/- 0.4) x 10(-15) cm(3) molecule(-1) sec(-1). From the variation of the measured rate with the mercury vapour pressure the rate constant for reaction of ground-state Hg with Hg( P-3(0)) was found to be (1.9 +/- 0.5) x 10(-11) cm(3) molecule(-1) sec(-1).