Kinetics and Mechanisms in Gas Phase Ion Chemistry

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Dr. Bierbaum is supported by a grant from the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program to study the reactivity, mechanism and product distributions of ion-molecule processes as a function of translational energy. She has been instrumental in the design and construction of a new and very powerful apparatus which is capable of making sensitive high resolution measurements of ion kinetic energy distributions. These experimental techniques provide a firm foundation for a better understanding of chemical reactivity at a molecular level. The newly developed instrument which is known as a Tandem Flowing Afterglow-SIFT-Drift apparatus provides exceptionally high sensitivity, resolution and chemical versatility for the study of ion-molecule reactions in the gas phase. The new instrument will be employed to study a variety of chemical systems comprising five areas of investigation: 1) Studies involving reactivity, mechanisms and product distributions of ion-molecule processes as a function of translational energy; 2) Kinetic isotope effects in reactions of alkyl halides; 3) Relaxation and reaction of vibrationally excited ions; 4) Generation and characterization of novel negative ions; and 5) Studies of ion-plasma processes. These studies will provide kinetic, mechanistic and thermochemical data for a wide variety of important ion-molecule reactions.