The vector correlations between products and reagents for the reactions C( 1 D) ϩ H 2 and C( 1 D) ϩ HD at the collision energy of 16.0 kJ/mol have been studied by using the quasi-classical trajectories on an ab initio potential energy surface (Bussery-Honvault et al., J Chem Phys 2001, 115, 10701) of 1AЈ symmetry. The isotope effect on the product rotational polarization for the C( 1 D) ϩ H 2 and its isotopic reactions is discussed in detail. The calculated results have shown that the product CH mainly tends to backward-forward symmetric for both reactions. Also, the product rotational angular momentum vector j is not only aligned but also preferentially oriented along the direction of the y-axis. FIGURE 4. Polar plots of P( r , r ) distribution averaged over all scattering angles for C( 1 D) ϩ H 2 (a) and C( 1 D) ϩ HD (b) reactions at the collision energy of 16 kJ/mol. C( 1 D) ϩ H 2 AND C( 1 D) ϩ HD REACTIONS VOL. 111, NO. 1