The absolute rate
coeffi
cients and produ
ct ion bran
ching per
centages at 298 K for the rea
ctions of severalPO
xCl
y- spe
cies with atomi
c nitrogen (N (
4S
3/2)) and atomi
c oxygen (O (
3P)) have been determined in asele
cted-ion flow tube (SIFT) instrument. PO
xCl
y- ions are generated by ele
ctron impa
ct on POCl
3 in a high-pressure sour
ce. O atoms are generated by quantitative titration of N atoms with NO, where N atoms areprodu
ced by mi
crowave dis
charge on N
2. The experimental pro
cedure allows for the determination of rate
coeffi
cients for the rea
ction of the rea
ctant ion with N (
4S
3/2) and O (
3P) as well as with N
2 and NO. Noneof the ions rea
ct with N
2 or NO, giving an upper limit to the rate
coeffi
cient of <5 × 10
-12 cm
3 mole
cules
-1s
-1. POCl
3- and POCl
2- do not rea
ct with N atoms, giving an upper limit to the rate
coeffi
cient of <1 ×10
-11 cm
3 mole
cules
-1 s
-1. The major produ
ct ion for POCl
3- and POCl
2- rea
cting with O involves loss ofCl from the rea
ctant ion, a
ccounting for >85% of the produ
cts. PO
2- is a minor produ
ct (
4%) from POCl
2-+ O. Only PO
2Cl
- rea
cts with both N and O, dire
ctly giving PO
2- and PO
3- as major produ
cts. In addition,
cal
culations of the stru
ctures and energies for PO
2N, PO
2N
-, and NCl have been performed at the G3 levelof theory to obtain estimates for the energeti
cs of the PO
2Cl
- rea
ctions. PO
2-, PO
3-, and PO
2Cl
2- are allunrea
ctive with both N and O. Comparisons of the rea
ctivity of PO
xCl
y- ions with O atoms are made toprevious rea
ctivity studies of these ions. In parti
cular, routes that yield the very stable PO
2- and PO
3- ionsare dis
cussed.