ISSN:
1089-7690
Source:
AIP Digital Archive
Topics:
Physics
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
Notes:
An experimental methodology is described for the real-time clocking of elementary bimolecular reactions, i.e., timing the process of formation and decay of the collision complex. The method takes advantage of the propinquity of the potential reagents in a binary van der Waals (vdW) "precursor'' molecule. An ultrashort pump laser pulse initiates the reaction, establishing the zero-of-time (e.g., by photodissociating one of the component molecules in the vdW precursor, liberating a "hot'' atom that attacks the nearby coreagent). A second ultrashort, suitably tuned, variably delayed probe laser pulse detects either the intermediate complex or the newly born product. From an analysis of this temporal data as a function of pump and probe wavelengths, the real-time dynamics of such a "van der Waals-impacted bimolecular (VIB)'' reaction can be determined. Chosen as a demonstration example is the VIB reaction H+CO2→HOCO
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.458531
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