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Atmospheric photochemistry

Roaming in the dark

Nature Chemistry volume 3, pages 504–505 (2011)Cite this article

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The mechanism of NO and O2 production through the photolysis of the nitrate radical has long proved elusive. Now, theoretical studies help to explain previous experiments, suggesting that two distinct pathways are responsible that both involve 'roaming dynamics' on the 'dark' excited electronic state.

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Figure 1: Schematic energy diagram illustrating how NO and O2 arise from the visible photolysis of NO3.

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  1. Simon W. North is in the Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843-3255, USA,

    Simon W. North

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  1. Simon W. North
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Correspondence to Simon W. North.

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North, S. Roaming in the dark. Nature Chem 3, 504–505 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.1079

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