Bimolecular reactions on sticky and slippery clusters: Electron-induced reactions of hydrogen peroxide.

Nanoparticles can serve as an efficient reaction environment for bimolecular reactions as the reactants concentrate either inside the nanoparticle or on the surface of the nanoparticle. The reaction rate is then controlled by the rate of formation of the reaction pairs. We demonstrate this concept on the example of electron-induced reactions in hydrogen peroxide.

Proton transfer from pinene stabilizes water clusters.

We ionize small mixed pinene-water clusters by electron impact or by using photons after sodium doping and analyze the products by mass spectrometry. Electron ionization results in the formation of pure pinene, mixed pinene-water and protonated water cluster cations. The "fragmentation free" photoionization after sodium doping results into the formation of only water-Na clusters with a mean cluster size below that observed after electron ionization.