Elucidating reaction mechanisms by imaging ion-neutral collisions

To understand the dynamics of chemical reactions has driven research for more than a century. A powerful approach to this goal are molecular scattering experiments under single-collision conditions. In the last years, we have developed techniques to investigate ion-molecule reactions, which are important in various branches of science from chemical synthesis in solution to the evolution of interstellar molecular clouds. In this talk I will discuss different reaction mechanisms of nucleophilic substitution and elimination reactions that we have unraveled using crossed-beam velocity map imaging.

Speaker: Roland Wester, University of Innsbruck