Experimental Characterization of the Isomer-Selective Generation of the Astrochemically Relevant Hydroxymethylene Radical Cation (HCOH/DCOH).

Interest in the observation and characterization of organic isomers in astronomical environments has grown rapidly with an increase in the sensitivity of detection techniques. Accurate modeling and interpretation of these environments require experimental isomer-specific reactivity and spectroscopic measurements. Given the abundance of formaldehyde (HCO) in various astrophysical objects, the properties and reactivities of its cation isomers HCO and HCOH are of significant interest.

Combined experimental and computational study of the reactivity of the methanimine radical cation (HCNH˙) and its isomer aminomethylene (HCNH˙) with propene (CHCHCH).

The gas phase reactivity of the radical cation isomers HCNH˙ (methanimine) and HCNH˙ (aminomethylene) with propene (CHCHCH) has been investigated by measuring absolute reactive cross sections and product branching ratios, under single collision conditions, as a function of collision energy (in the range ∼0.07-11.80 eV) using guided ion beam mass spectrometry coupled with VUV photoionization for selective isomer generation.

Intermolecular Interactions between Aldehydes and Alcohols: Conformational Equilibrium and Rotational Spectra of Acrolein-Methanol Complex.

The rotational spectra of the 1:1 complex formed by acrolein and methanol and its deuterated isotopologues have been analyzed. Two stable conformations in which two hydrogen bonds between the two moieties are formed were detected. The rotational lines show a hyperfine structure due to the methyl group internal rotation in the complex and the barriers hindering the motion were determined as 2.

Reaction dynamics of the methoxy anion CHO with methyl iodide CHI.

Studying larger nucleophiles in bimolecular nucleophilic substitution (S2) reactions bridges the gap from simple model systems to those relevant to organic chemistry. Therefore, we investigated the reaction dynamics between the methoxy anion (CHO) and iodomethane (CHI) in our crossed-beam setup combined with velocity map imaging at the four collision energies 0.4, 0.

Structure, Dynamics, and Accurate Laboratory Rotational Frequencies of the Acrylonitrile-Methanol Complex.

The hydrogen-bonded complex between acrylonitrile (CH═CHCN) and methanol has been characterized spectroscopically in the millimeter wave range (59.6-74.4 GHz) using a free jet absorption millimeter wave spectrometer.