An ion beam study of reactive scattering of halide ions by methyl halides

Measurements of electron detachment cross sections, reactive charge transfer, and differential elastic and inelastic scattering cross sections for Cl−, Br−, and I− ions on CH3I, CH3Br, and CH3Cl targets are reported. The energy range for the experiments is from 3 to 150 eV. Of the very large number of reaction channels open, it appears that most make significant contributions to the total cross section for sufficiently high projectile energies. The SN2 reaction, which may be dominant at lower energies, was not observed and is probably not significant above the lowest energies in this study. Surviving primary ions exhibit a broad spectrum of inelastic loss, suggesting target breakup.