Publications/Patents/Presentations/Honors/Students Report. Investigation of the Role of Vibrational Excitation in Unimolecular Reactions.

摘要

Our overall goal is to investigate the nature of vibrationally energized molecules. Laser vibrational overtone activation produces energized molecules with specific vibrational excitation which undergo subsequent reaction. In these experiments the total pressure, excitation wavelength and collider gas are varied to determine the specific rate coefficient and collisional deactivation rate constants. Vibrational overtone spectroscopy of nonreactive molecules provides evidence of vibrational energy transfer pathways in reactive systems. Vibrational Coupling in Reactive Systems: Vibrational overtone excitation creates a narrow distribution of activated molecules compared to other forms of activation. This unique characteristic has allowed us to investigate the energy dependent reaction rate constant and the attributes of the collisional deaction distribution in gaseous reactions. We have used laser vibrational excitation. We have determined the experimental specific rate coefficients for this reaction and compared them to the values predicted by RRKM theory.