Reaction of Active Nitrogen with SO2 and SOCl2

Reactions of active nitrogen with SO2 and SOCl2 have been studied on a flowing afterglow apparatus. The emissions ranging from 280 to 500 nm were assigned to SO2(A˜1A2,B˜1B1→X˜1A1) and SO2(a~3B1→X˜1A1) With the aim of discerning the roles of active N atom and N2(A3Σu+) played in the reactions above, N2(A3Σu+) generated by Ar(3P0,2) reacting with N2 has substituted the active nitrogen to react with SO2 and SOCl2, respectively. It shows that when reacting with SO2, both active nitrogen and N2(A3Σu+) without N atom can produce SO2(A˜1A2,B˜1B1) and SO2(a˜3B1). While reacting with SOCl2, only when N2(A3Σu+) and the active N atom coexist could SO2(a˜3B1) be formed. Therefore, it is concluded that N2(A3Σu+) dominates the reaction of active nitrogen with SO2 and excites SO2 directly; N2(A3Σu+) and active N atom reacting with SOCl2 can generate the constitutions to form SO2(a˜3B1), which were suggested as N2O(X1Σ+) and SO(X).