Detection of transient infrared absorption of SO3 and 1,3,2-dioxathietane-2,2-dioxide [cyc-(CH2)O(SO2)O] in the reaction CH2OO+SO2.

We recorded time-resolved infrared absorption spectra of transient species produced on irradiation at 308 nm of a flowing mixture of CH2I2/O2/N2/SO2 at 298 K. Bands of CH2OO were observed initially upon irradiation; their decrease in intensity was accompanied by the appearance of an intense band at 1391.5 cm-1 that is associated with the degenerate SO-stretching mode of SO3, two major bands of HCHO at 1502 and 1745 cm-1, and five new bands near >1340, 1225, 1100, 940, and 880 cm-1. The band near 1340 cm-1 was interfered by absorption of SO2 and SO3, so its band maximum might be greater than 1340 cm-1. SO3 in its internally excited states was produced initially and became thermalized at a later period. The rotational contour of the band of thermalized SO3 agrees satisfactorily with the reported spectrum of SO3. These five new bands are tentatively assigned to an intermediate 1,3,2-dioxathietane-2,2-dioxide [cyc-(CH2)O(SO2)O] according to comparison with anharmonic vibrational wavenumbers and relative IR intensities predicted for this intermediate. Observation of a small amount of cyc-(CH2)O(SO2)O is consistent with the expected reaction according to the potential energy scheme predicted previously. SO3+HCHO are the major products of the title reaction. The other predicted product channel HCOOH+SO2 was unobserved and its branching ratio was estimated to be <5%.