We have measured the absolute total cross sections for
CH2SH+(CH3S+),
CH2S+, HCS+, HS+,
CH3
+, and
CH2
+ produced by the collision-induced
dissociation (CID) reaction of
CH3SH+(12A‘‘) + Ar in
the center-of-mass collision energy range of 1−36 eV. While the onset for
CH3
+ is consistent with the
thermochemical
threshold for the formation of CH3
+ + SH,
the onsets for other product ions are higher than their
corresponding
thermochemical thresholds. Using a charge transfer probing
technique, we conclude that the m/e = 47 amu
ions observed in the CID reaction have mostly the
CH2SH+ structure. The relative
yields for CH2SH+,
CH2S+,
HCS+, HS+, CH3
+,
and CH2
+ formed in the CID reaction, which
strongly favor the C−S bond scission
process leading to the formation of CH3
+ +
SH, are significantly different from those measured in
previous
photoionization and charge exchange studies. Since the
CH3
+ + SH channel is not among the most
stable
product channels, this observation suggests that the
collision-activated dissociation of
CH3SH+ is nonstatistical.
The high yield for CH3
+ + SH observed
in CID is attributed to the more efficient translational to
vibrational
energy transfer for the C−S stretch than for the C−H stretches of
CH3SH+, and to weak couplings
between
the low-frequency C−S and the high-frequency C−H stretching
vibrational modes of CH3SH+. The
differences
in excitation mechanisms for CH3SH+
via collision activation, photoionization, and charge
exchange are
responsible for the different fragment ion distributions from
CH3SH+ observed in these
experiments.