Evidence for orbital-specific electron transfer to oriented haloform molecules.

Beams of hyperthermal K atoms cross beams of the oriented haloforms CF(3)H, CCl(3)H, and CBr(3)H, and transfer of an electron mainly produces K(+) and the X(-) halide ion which are detected in coincidence. As expected, the steric asymmetry of CCl(3)H and CBr(3)H is very small and the halogen end is more reactive. However, even though there are three potentially reactive centers on each molecule, the F(-) ion yield in CF(3)H is strongly dependent on orientation.