Mechanism of negative ion formation from phenol and para-chlorophenol by interaction with free electrons

Dissociative electron attachment (DEA) to phenol and para‐chlorophenol in the energy range 0–12 eV is studied. Analogies in formation of the resonance states in an ionic benzene and its derivatives are found to arise from the similarity of the aromatic base of the molecules. Differences in DEA processes are defined mainly by the influence of the functional OH‐group and, to a lesser degree, by the presence of a chlorine atom. A correlation between the energies of the resonance states and ionization energies of p‐chlorophenol and phenol, analogous to that found previously for phenol, is proved. On this basis it is established that the dominating mechanism for formation of molecular negative ions at energies above 5 eV is Feshbach resonance.Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.