Reagent Orientation and Electron Transfer Dynamics

在这个由化学部实验物理化学项目资助的项目中，布鲁克斯将在交叉分子束机器中研究电子供体-电子受体系统，在这种情况下，受体物种的能量和取向受到控制。高能供体原子将与利用静电场定向的分子交叉。由电子转移产生的离子将使用符合飞行时间质谱（TOFMS）进行质量分析，并测量各种离子形成的阈值能量。这些数据将提供有关电子亲和力和键离解能的信息，并将有助于解释电子如何在化学物质之间转移。电子从一个原子或分子转移到另一个原子或分子，引发了各种各样的化学反应，从电解细胞中的化学反应到光合作用和燃烧。尽管利用诺贝尔奖得主化学家鲁道夫·马库斯提出的理论，许多这些反应的速率与其他数据有很好的关联，但关于电子转移本身的直接信息却缺失了。这个项目将有助于阐明电子在经历这些类型的反应转移时所采取的途径的本质。

In this project funded by the Experimental Physical Chemistry program of the Chemistry Division, Brooks will study electron donor-electron acceptor systems in a crossed molecular-beam machine under conditions in which the energy and orientation of the acceptor species are controlled. Energetic donor atoms will be crossed with molecules which have been oriented using electrostatic fields. Ions produced by electron transfer will be mass analyzed using coincidence time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS), and threshold energies for formation of various ions will be measured. Such data will provide information about electron affinities and bond dissociation energies, and will help explain how electrons are transferred between chemical species. The transfer of an electron from one atom or molecule to another initiates a wide variety of chemical reactions, from those occurring in electrolytic cells to photosynthesis and combustion. Although the rates of many of these reactions correlate well with other data using a theory developed by Nobel-prize winning chemist Rudolph Marcus, direct information about the electron transfer itself is missing. This project will help illuminate the nature of the pathway an electron takes when undergoing these types of reactive transfers.