Ultrafast Measurements on Theoretically Tractable Prototypesfor Polar Solution Chemistry

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Professor Paul Barbara is supported by a grant from the Throretical and Computational Chemistry Program to conduct experimental studies of ultrafast chemical dynamics in polar solvents. Four specific areas of research are planned: 1) an investigation of the vibrational relaxation in small radical anions in polar solvents; 2) the evolution of reactant electronic structure during a chemical reaction; 3) the dynamical coupling of proton and solvent motion in reacting systems; and 4) the role of quantum solvent nuclear degrees of freedom in charge-transfer reactions. %%% Since many commercially important chemical reactions take place in polar solvents such as water, it is important to understand the influence which such solvents have on the reaction dynamics. A number of effects, such as solvent cage effects, vibrational relaxation and quantum mechanical tunneling, which are not present in the gas phase completely dominate condensed phase chemical reactions. It is important to develop reliable theories for model chemical systems which can then be applied to improving the efficiency of commercially important chemical reactions. The work which is being performed by Barbara provides an important experimental basis for the development of such theories.