Mode-Selective Differential Scattering Studies of Ion-Molecule Reaction Dynamics

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Dr. Scott L. Anderson of the University of Utah is funded for his research on mode-selective differential scattering studies of ion-molecule reaction dynamics by the Physical Chemistry Program of the Chemistry Division. This scattering technique will be used, in conjunction with theory, to elucidate the detailed mechnisms for reaction of polyatomic cations. Reactions of formaldehyde cation will be used to probe the effects of collisional energy and vibrations on resulting chemistry, and direct-dynamics simulations of the reaction dynamics will be done in collaboration with Dr. William Hase. Synchrotron radiation studies of reactions of water with other small cations, not amenable to laboratory state-selection, will be made in collaboration with Dr. Cheuk Ng and Dr. Rainer Dressler. REMPI photoelectron spectroscopy probing Rydberg state properties and developing new cation state-selection routes will be done, and the reactions of these ions will be studied. Reaction dynamics among polyatomic molecules generally depend on kinetic energy and upon how internal energy is partitioned among internal degrees of freedom. Laser excitation and ion scattering methods will be used to tune selected reactants to various states of excitation and the resulting collision and reaction dynamics will be experimentally measured and theoretically calculated and simulated. These studies will provide critically important advances in our understanding of important gas-phase reactions important in combustion and interstellar chemistries.