Abstract
Tetramethyltin has been photodissociated in a molecular beam at 193 nm. The time-of-flight spectrum of the methyl radicals obtained is converted into the translational energy distribution. This distribution is well represented by a sum of two prior distributions with restricted number of vibrational degrees of freedom, one for two-body dissociation, Sn(CH3)4→Sn(CH3)3 + CH3 and the other for three-body dissociation, Sn(CH3)4→Sn(CH3)2 + 2CH3.