Imaging a reactive resonance in the Cl+CH4 reaction

High-Resolution Crossed-Beam Dynamics Studies of the D + Para-H2 → HD + H Reaction at 1.21 eV

Understanding kinetic isotope effects is important in the study of the reaction dynamics of elementary chemical reactions, particularly those involving hydrogen atoms and molecules. As one of the isotopic variants of the hydrogen exchange reaction, the D + para-H2 reaction has attracted much attention. However, experimental studies of this reaction have been limited primarily due to its strong experimental background noise. In this study, by using the velocity map ion imaging method and the near-threshold ionization technique, together with improvements on the vacuum condition in the vicinity of the collision zone, background noise was reduced significantly, and quantum state-resolved differential cross sections (DCSs) for the D + para-H2 reaction at a collision energy of 1.21 eV were acquired in a crossed molecular beams experiment. Interestingly, clear rotational state-dependent angular distributions were noticed in the quantum state-resolved DCSs. The most intense peak's positions for HD (v', j') products shift to different scattering directions as the product's ro-vibrational quantum number increases. Two different microscopic reaction mechanisms are found to be involved in this reaction for HD products in different vibrational states. The results show a direct correlation between the scattering angle and the product's rotational quantum number, revealing that the contributions of impact parameters are strongly influenced by the corresponding centrifugal barrier.

Imaging the Ion-Molecule Reaction Dynamics of O- + CD4

While neutral reactions involved in methane oxidation have been intensively studied, much less information is known about the reaction dynamics of the oxygen radical anion with methane. Here, we study the scattering dynamics of this anion-molecule reaction using crossed-beam velocity map imaging with deuterated methane. Differential scattering cross sections for the deuterium abstraction channel have been determined at relative collision energies between 0.2 and 1.5 eV and ab initio calculations of the important stationary points along the reaction pathway have been performed. At lower collision energies, direct backscattering and indirect complex-mediated reaction dynamics are observed, whereas at higher energies, sideways deuterium stripping dominates the reaction. Above 0.7 eV collision energy, a suppressed cross section is observed at low product ion velocities, which is likely caused by the endoergic pathway of combined deuteron/deuterium transfer, forming heavy water. The measured product internal energy is attributed mainly to the low-lying deformation and out-of-plane bending vibrations of the methyl radical product. The results are compared with a previous crossed-beam result for the reaction of oxygen anions with nondeuterated ̧methane and with the related neutral-neutral reactions, showing similar dynamics and qualitative agreement.

State-to-State Dynamics in Mode-Selective Polyatomic Reactions

Chemical reactions are intrinsically quantum mechanical transformations of reactants to products. Recent experimental and theoretical advances have enabled the exploration of reaction dynamics with a quantum state resolution for both reactants and products. To this end, reactions involving more than three atoms are of particular interest, because they exhibit rich dynamics concerning the role of different reactant modes in controlling reactivity and product energy disposal. A clear understanding of the state-to-state dynamics requires new paradigms. In this Perspective, we examine some new concepts that have emerged from recent state-to-state studies of polyatomic reactions and illustrate the key role played by the transition state.

Observation of resonances in the transition state region of the F + NH3 reaction using anion photoelectron spectroscopy

The transition state of a chemical reaction is a dividing surface on the reaction potential energy surface (PES) between reactants and products and is thus of fundamental interest in understanding chemical reactivity. The transient nature of the transition state presents challenges to its experimental characterization. Transition-state spectroscopy experiments based on negative-ion photodetachment can provide a direct probe of this region of the PES, revealing the detailed vibrational structure associated with the transition state. Here we study the F + NH₃ → HF + NH₂ reaction using slow photoelectron velocity-map imaging spectroscopy of cryogenically cooled FNH₃^- anions. Reduced-dimensionality quantum dynamical simulations performed on a global PES show excellent agreement with the experimental results, enabling the assignment of spectral structure. Our combined experimental-theoretical study reveals a manifold of vibrational Feshbach resonances in the product well of the F + NH₃ PES. At higher energies, the spectra identify features attributed to resonances localized across the transition state and into the reactant complex that may impact the bimolecular reaction dynamics.

Stretching-mode specificity in the Cl + CH3D(v1-I, v1-II, and v4 = 1; |jK〉) reactions: dependency on the initial |jK〉 selectivity

The title reactions were studied at a collisional energy of 5.4 kcal mol^-1 in a crossed-beam product-imaging experiment. The dynamics attributes of the dominant ground-state CH₂D(0₀) and the accompanied C-D bend-excited CH₂D(6₁) products were imaged in reactions with totally 16 ro-vibrationally selected states of the CH₃D(v_i, |jK〉) reagents. We found that all three vibrational excitations yielded marked |jK〉-dependent rate-enhancements in forming the (0₀, 0/1)_s product pairs. Furthermore, for a given rotational |jK〉-mode, a vibrational-mode propensity of v₄ > v₁-I > v₁-II in rate promotion and a clear manifestation of the Fermi-phase-induced interference effect of the latter two were observed. Compared to the reactivity of the rotationless state |jK〉 = |00〉, a minute rotational-excitation of all three stretch-excited CH₃D(v_i = 1) reagents could yield significantly higher reaction rates for the product pair (0₀, 0)_s, but not so for (0₀, 1)_s. The signals in forming the (6₁, 0)_s pair were clearly notable but smaller than that of the ground-state reaction product pair, (0₀, 0)_g. An opposite propensity of v₁-II ≈ v₁-I > v₄ with a milder dependency on the initial |jK〉-states was observed. The angular distributions of the (0₀, 0)_s pairs were nearly identical for all ro-vibrationally excited reagents, displaying the typical trait for a direct abstraction of the rebound mechanism. Similar distributions were found for the (6₁, 0)_s pairs; yet, both pairs deviated substantially from the peripheral feature of the ground-state reaction pair of (0₀, 0)_g. Those of the (0₀, 1)_s pairs in reactions with v₄-excitation featured a prominent forward-peaking distribution-suggestive of a time-delayed, resonance-mediated pathway, again with little dependency on the initial |jK〉-states. As for the reactions with the two Fermi-dyads, v₁-I and v₁-II, albeit showing globally similar distributions to that for v₄, a substantial variation with the initial rotational-mode excitation could be discerned in the forward-peaking features. To unravel the impact of the Fermi-phase on the |jK〉-dependent attributes, we adopted a comparative approach by contrasting the observations in reactions with the Fermi-dyad reagents (the superposition states) to those with the pure-state reagents. Remarkable distinctions are unveiled and elucidated with the unexplained results explicitly pointed out, which call for future theoretical investigations for deeper understanding.

Active stereo-control of the Cl + CH4(ν3 = 1) reaction: a three-dimensional perspective

The transition state in Cl + CH4 is of Cl-H-C collinear geometry. As the reactant CH4 is vibrationally excited by a linearly polarized infrared (IR) light to the antisymmetric-stretching state of ν3 = 1, all four C-H bonds are collectively excited and any one of the H-atoms can be reactive. Yet, a strong alignment of the excited CH4(ν3 = 1), as evidenced from the striking stereo-specificity in the Cl + CH4 reaction, was clearly revealed in a previous, exploratory study. Reported here is the full account of that investigation at two collisional energies of Ec = 4.8 and 2.7 kcal mol-1, using a crossed molecular-beam, product-imaging approach. By active control of the polarization direction of an IR laser under judiciously chosen beam-geometries, a complete set of polarization-dependent differential cross sections is disentangled from the CH3(00) product images. To our surprise, the quantitative results appear nearly identical to those obtained for the isotope-substituted reaction of Cl + CHD3(ν1 = 1) → HCl(ν) + CD3(00). A detailed discussion is presented to elucidate the underlying physics for such an intriguing similarity in stereo-reactivity between a spherical-top and a symmetric-top reactant.

Reactivity oscillation in the heavy-light-heavy Cl + CH4 reaction

It has long been predicted that oscillatory behavior exists in reactivity as a function of collision energy for heavy-light-heavy (HLH) chemical reactions in which a light atom is transferred between two heavy atoms or groups of atoms, but direct observation of such a behavior in bimolecular reactions remains a challenge. Here we report a joint theoretical and crossed-molecular-beam study on the Cl + CH₄ → HCl + CH₃ reaction. A distinctive peak at a collision energy of 0.15 eV for the CH₃(v = 0) product was experimentally detected in the backward scattering direction. Detailed quantum-dynamics calculations on a highly accurate potential energy surface revealed that this feature originates from the reactivity oscillation in this HLH polyatomic reaction. We anticipate that such reactivity oscillations exist in many HLH reactions involving polyatomic reagents.

An accurate potential energy surface and ring polymer molecular dynamics study of the Cl + CH4→ HCl + CH3reaction

Thermal rate coefficients for the Cl + CH₄/CD₄reactions were studied on a new full-dimensional accurate potential energy surface with the spin–orbit corrections considered in the entrance channel.

Imaging a Resonance-Dominant Polyatomic Reaction: F + CH3D → CH3(ν2 = 2) + DF(ν)

The title reaction was studied in a crossed-beam scattering experiment at the collisional energy ( E_c) ranging from 0.46 to 4.53 kcal mol^-1. Using a time-sliced velocity-imaging technique, both the pair-correlated integral and differential cross sections were measured. On the basis of the observed structures in state-specific excitation functions and the patterns in the E_c evolution of product angular distributions, we inferred that the title reaction proceeds predominantly via a resonance-mediated pathway, in contrast to the previous findings in the isotopically analogous reactions where the alternative direct abstraction pathway often dominates the reactivity. Despite the complexity of numerous scattering resonances involved in this six-atom reaction, extending our understanding of the isolated resonance in the analogous benchmark F + HD (H₂) reaction enables us to propose plausible mechanistic origins for the formation as well as the decay of the complicated overlapped resonances.

A general variational approach for computing rovibrational resonances of polyatomic molecules. Application to the weakly bound H2He+ and H2⋅CO systems

The quasi-variational quantum chemical protocol and code GENIUSH [E. Mátyus et al., J. Chem. Phys. 130, 134112 (2009) and C. Fábri et al., J. Chem. Phys. 134, 074105 (2011)] has been augmented with the complex absorbing potential (CAP) technique, yielding a method for the determination of rovibrational resonance states. Due to the effective implementation of the CAP technique within GENIUSH, the GENIUSH-CAP code is a powerful tool for the study of important dynamical features of arbitrary-sized molecular systems with arbitrary composition above their first dissociation limit. The GENIUSH-CAP code has been tested and validated on the H₂He⁺ cation: the computed resonance energies and lifetimes are compared to those obtained with a previously developed triatomic rovibrational resonance-computing code, D²FOPI-CCS [T. Szidarovszky and A. G. Császár Mol. Phys. 111, 2131 (2013)], utilizing the complex coordinate scaling method. A unique feature of the GENIUSH-CAP protocol is that it allows the simple implementation of reduced-dimensional dynamical models. To prove this, resonance energies and lifetimes of the H₂⋅CO van der Waals complex have been computed utilizing a four-dimensional model (freezing the two monomer stretches), and a related potential energy surface, of the complex.

Primary vs. secondary H-atom abstraction in the Cl-atom reaction with n-pentane

Velocity map imaging (VMI) measurements and quasi-classical trajectory (QCT) calculations on a newly developed, global potential energy surface (PES) combine to reveal the detailed mechanisms of reaction of Cl atoms with n-pentane. Images of the HCl (v = 0, J = 1, 2 and 3) products of reaction at a mean collision energy of 33.5 kJ mol^-1 determine the centre-of-mass frame angular scattering and kinetic energy release distributions. The HCl products form with relative populations of J = 0-5 levels that fit to a rotational temperature of 138 ± 13 K. Product kinetic energy release distributions agree well with those derived from a previous VMI study of the pentyl radical co-product [Estillore et al., J. Chem. Phys. 2010, 132, 164313], but the angular distributions show more pronounced forward scattering. The QCT calculations reproduce many of the experimental observations, and allow comparison of the site-specific dynamics of abstraction of primary and secondary H-atoms. They also quantify the relative reactivity towards Cl atoms of the three different H-atom environments in n-pentane.

Imaging the dynamics of ion–molecule reactions

A range of ion–molecule reactions have been studied in the last years using the crossed-beam ion imaging technique, from charge transfer and proton transfer to nucleophilic substitution and elimination.

Recent advances in quantum scattering calculations on polyatomic bimolecular reactions

This review surveys quantum scattering calculations on chemical reactions of polyatomic molecules in the gas phase published in the last ten years.

Crossed beam polyatomic reaction dynamics: recent advances and new insights

This review summarizes the developments in polyatomic reaction dynamics, focusing on reactions of unsaturated hydrocarbons with O-atoms and methane with atoms/radicals.

Extremely short-lived reaction resonances in Cl + HD (v = 1) → DCl + H due to chemical bond softening

The Cl + H2 reaction is an important benchmark system in the study of chemical reaction dynamics that has always appeared to proceed via a direct abstraction mechanism, with no clear signature of reaction resonances. Here we report a high-resolution crossed–molecular beam study on the Cl + HD (v = 1, j = 0) → DCl + H reaction (where v is the vibrational quantum number and j is the rotational quantum number). Very few forward scattered products were observed. However, two distinctive peaks at collision energies of 2.4 and 4.3 kilocalories per mole for the DCl (v′ = 1) product were detected in the backward scattering direction. Detailed quantum dynamics calculations on a highly accurate potential energy surface suggested that these features originate from two very short-lived dynamical resonances trapped in the peculiar H-DCl (v′ = 2) vibrational adiabatic potential wells that result from chemical bond softening. We anticipate that dynamical resonances trapped in such wells exist in many reactions involving vibrationally excited molecules.

Velocity map imaging of the dynamics of bimolecular chemical reactions

The experimental technique of velocity map imaging (VMI) enables measurements to be made of the dynamics of chemical reactions that are providing unprecedented insights about reactive scattering. This perspective article illustrates how VMI, in combination with crossed-molecular beam, dual-beam or photo-initiated (Photoloc) methods, can reveal correlated information on the vibrational quantum states populated in the two products of a reaction, and the angular scattering of products (the differential cross section) formed in specific rotational and vibrational levels. Reactions studied by VMI techniques are being extended to those of polyatomic molecules or radicals, and of molecular ions. Subtle quantum-mechanical effects in bimolecular reactions can provide distinct signatures in the velocity map images, and are exemplified here by non-adiabatic dynamics on coupled potential energy surfaces, and by experimental evidence for scattering resonances.