Infrared Chemiluminescence Studies of Ion-Molecule Reactions in a Flowing Afterglow.

A powerful new method has been developed for studying the dynamics of thermal energy ion-molecule reactions. Ion reactions are carried out in a well-characterized, state-of-the-art flowing afterglow apparatus and the excited products are monitored optically. Two complementary techniques are used direct observation of wavelength dispersed infrared chemiluminescence and laser-induced fluorescence detection, i.e. laser excitation of the product molecules to bound electronic states and detection of the resulting visible fluorescence. The initial vibrational distributions have been determined for products formed in a wide variety of ion-molecule processes, including proton transfer, charge transfer, heavy atom transfer and associative detachment reactions. information on nascent rotational populations and on vibrational deactivation of ions has also been obtained recently. Author