Mode-Selective Differential Scattering as a Probe of Polyatomic Ion Reaction Mechanisms

Photo-control of bimolecular reactions: reactivity of the long-lived Rhodamine 6G triplet excited state with ˙NO

Photo-chemistry provides a non-intuitive but very powerful way to probe kinetically limited, sometimes thermodynamically non-favored reactions and, thus, access highly specific products. However, reactivity in the excited state is difficult to characterize directly, due to short lifetimes and challenges in controlling the reaction medium. Among photo-activatable reagents, rhodamine dyes find widespread uses due to a number of favorable properties including their high absorption coefficient. Their readily adaptable synthesis allows development of tailor-made dyes for specific applications. Remarkably, few studies have directly probed the chemical reactivity of their triplet excited state. Here we present a new conceptual approach to examine the specific chemistry of the triplet excited state. We have developed a pump (488 nm) - probe (600 nm) strategy to examine the gas-phase lifetime and reactivity of the triplet cation of Rhodamine 6G (³Rh6G⁺) in an ion trap mass spectrometer. The confounding effects of solvent, aggregation and formation of other reactive intermediates is thus avoided allowing fundamental reactivity to be explored. In the presence, in the ion trap, of helium seeded with 1% of nitric oxide (˙NO) (∼ 60 ion/˙NO collisions per second), the triplet lifetime is shortened from 1.9 s to 0.7 s. Simultaneously, the reaction products [Rh6G-H]˙⁺ and [Rh6G-H + NO]⁺ are observed. Reaction of ³Rh6G⁺ with ˙NO₂ yields [Rh6G-H]˙⁺, [Rh6G-H + NO₂]⁺ and [Rh6G-2H]⁺. None of these products are observed for the singlet, ¹Rh6G⁺. DFT calculations suggest a stepwise mechanism only allowed from ³Rh6G⁺, in which H atom abstraction by ˙NO_x (x = 1 or 2) yields [Rh6G-H]˙⁺ which, then, reacts with another ˙NO_x molecule. This illustrates the power of light to initiate specific chemical reactions, and the relevance of gas-phase ion-molecule reaction approaches to understand stepwise reaction mechanism from specific excited states.

Self-Reactions in the HBr+ (DBr+) + HBr System: A State-Selective Investigation of the Role of Rotation

Self-reactions observed in the HBr⁺ (DBr⁺) + HBr system have been investigated using a guided ion-beam experiment under single-collision conditions. The reaction channels observed are proton transfer/hydrogen abstraction (PT/HA) in the case of HBr⁺ and deuteron transfer/hydrogen abstraction (DT/HA) and charge transfer (CT) in the case of DBr⁺. HBr⁺/DBr⁺ ions have been formed with rotational energies selected using the resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) formation process. Cross sections have been measured as a function of the rotational energy of the ion, E_rot, and of the center-of-mass collision energy, E_cm. In the region of low rotational energies, the cross section for both PT/HA and DT/HA decreases with increasing ion rotation. In this region, the cross section for CT increases with increasing ion rotation. For higher rotational energies, the cross section increases with increasing ion rotation for PT/HA and less pronounced for DT/HA. The cross section for CT becomes independent of ion rotation for high rotational energies. Since all reaction channels are exothermic, all cross sections decrease with increasing E_cm.

Photodissociation kinetics of the isobutanal radical cation: a combined experimental and theoretical study

Main photodissociation pathways of isobutanal radical cation generated by (2 + 1) REMPI process.

Effects of collisional and vibrational velocity on proton and deuteron transfer in the reaction of HOD+ with CO

Reaction of HOD(+) with CO was studied over the collision energy (E(col)) range between 0.18 and 2.87 eV, for HOD(+) in its ground state and with one quantum in each of its vibrational modes: (001)--predominantly OH stretch; (010)--bend, and (100)--predominately OD stretch. In addition to integral cross sections, product recoil velocity distributions were also measured for each initial condition. The dominant reactions are near-thermoneutral proton and deuteron transfer, generating HCO(+) and DCO(+) product ions by a predominantly direct mechanism. The HCO(+) and DCO(+) channels occur with a combined efficiency of 76% for ground state HOD(+) at our lowest E(col), increasing to 94% for E(col) around 0.33 eV, then falling at high E(col) to ~40%. The HCO(+) and DCO(+) channels have a complicated dependence on the HOD(+) vibrational state. Excitation of the OH or OD stretch modes enhances H(+) or D(+) transfer, respectively, and inhibits D(+) or H(+) transfer. Bend excitation preferentially enhances H(+) transfer, with no effect on D(+) transfer. There is no coupling of energy initially in any HOD(+) vibrational mode to recoil velocity of either of the product ions, even at low E(col) where vibrational excitation doubles or triples the energy available to products. The results suggest that transfer of H or D atoms is enhanced if the atom in question has a high vibrational velocity, and that this effect offsets what is otherwise a general inhibition of reactivity by added energy. HOCO(+) + D and DOCO(+) + H products are also observed, but as minor channels despite being barrierless and exoergic. These channels appear to be complex mediated at low E(col), essentially vanish at intermediate E(col), then reappear with a direct reaction mechanism at high E(col).

Quantum State-Resolved Collision Relaxation of Highly Vibrationally Excited SO2

Collision depopulation cross sections of 13 single, highly vibrationally excited levels with 45,000 cm(-1) energy in the electronic ground state of SO(2) in collision with CO in a supersonic jet have been measured. The measurements for these single highly excited quantum states are conducted through pressure dependence of the decay of the fluorescence quantum beat resulted from their coupling with the rovibronic levels in the optically allowed transitions to the (140), (210), and (132) C(1)B(2) levels. The relaxation cross sections of these highly excited states, each with well-defined energy and symmetry, range from 27 to 187 A(2) with an average of 71 A(2). This average cross section is much larger than the hard sphere cross section of 48 A(2). The relaxation cross section is also found to be larger for the quantum states with a larger matrix element in coupling with the "bright" electronically excited level. Both observations suggest a substantial contribution from long range interactions in collision relaxation of highly excited molecules.

The study of state-selected ion-molecule reactions using the vacuum ultraviolet pulsed field ionization-photoion technique

This paper presents the methodology to generate beams of ions in single quantum states for bimolecular ion-molecule reaction dynamics studies using pulsed field ionization (PFI) of atoms or molecules in high-n Rydberg states produced by vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) synchrotron or laser photoexcitation. Employing the pseudocontinuum high-resolution VUV synchrotron radiation at the Advanced Light Source as the photoionization source, PFI photoions (PFI-PIs) in selected rovibrational states have been generated for ion-molecule reaction studies using a fast-ion gate to pass the PFI-PIs at a fixed delay with respect to the detection of the PFI photoelectrons (PFI-PEs). The fast ion gate provided by a novel interleaved comb wire gate lens is the key for achieving the optimal signal-to-noise ratio in state-selected ion-molecule collision studies using the VUV synchrotron based PFI-PE secondary ion coincidence (PFI-PESICO) method. The most recent development of the VUV laser PFI-PI scheme for state-selected ion-molecule collision studies is also described. Absolute integral cross sections for state-selected H2+ ions ranging from v+ = 0 to 17 in collisions with Ar, Ne, and He at controlled translational energies have been obtained by employing the VUV synchrotron based PFI-PESICO scheme. The comparison between PFI-PESICO cross sections for the H2+(HD+)+Ne and H2+(HD+)+He proton-transfer reactions and theoretical cross sections based on quasiclassical trajectory (QCT) calculations and three-dimensional quantum scattering calculations performed on the most recently available ab initio potential energy surfaces is highlighted. In both reaction systems, quantum scattering resonances enhance the integral cross sections significantly above QCT predictions at low translational and vibrational energies. At higher energies, the agreement between experiment and quasiclassical theory is very good. The profile and magnitude of the kinetic energy dependence of the absolute integral cross sections for the H2+(v+ = 0-2,N+ = 1)+He proton-transfer reaction unambiguously show that the inclusion of Coriolis coupling is important in quantum dynamics scattering calculations of ion-molecule collisions.

Reexamination of ionospheric chemistry: high temperature kinetics, internal energy dependences, unusual isomers, and corrections

A number of aspects of ionospheric chemistry are revisited. The review discusses in detail only work performed at AFRL, but other work is mentioned. A large portion of the paper discusses measurements of the kinetics of upper ionospheric reactions at very high temperatures, i.e. the upper temperature range has been extended to at least 1400 K and in some cases to 1800 K. These temperatures are high enough to excite vibrations in O2, N2, and NO and comparing them to drift tube data allows information on the rotational temperature and vibrational level dependences to be derived. Rotational and translational energy are equivalent in controlling the kinetics in most reactions. Vibrational energy in O2 and N2 is often found to promote reactivity which is shown to cause ionospheric density depletions. NO vibrations do not significantly affect the reactivity. In a number of cases, detailed calculations accompanied the experimental studies and elucidated details of the mechanisms. Kinetics of two peroxide isomers important in the lower ionospheric have been measured for the first time, i.e. NOO+ and ONOO-. Finally, two examples are shown where errors in previous data are corrected.