State-to-state chemical reaction dynamics in polyatomic systems: case studies

• Published in: Annual review of physical chemistry Vol. 52; pp. 15 - 39
• Main Author: Valentini, J J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Annual Reviews, Inc 2001
• Subjects: Chemical reactions
• ISSN: 0066-426X; 1545-1593
• DOI: 10.1146/annurev.physchem.52.1.15

This review illustrates the experimental study of chemical reaction dynamics using methods that select the quantum states and energy of the reactants and determine the quantum states and energy of the products. The focus is reaction dynamics in systems in which at least one of the reactants or products is a polyatomic molecule. The approach taken is to select four prototype reaction systems as case studies to demonstrate the detail of information and insight that can come from such experiments. Thus, the review is selective and neither claims nor attempts to be comprehensive. Reference to and discussion of theoretical reaction dynamics are included where computational results directly connect with the experiments.