Molecular Dynamics of Chemical Reactions
Abstract Molecular beam and spectroscopic techniques allow detailed study of many dynamical properties of single reactive collisions. The chemical scope of these methods is now very wide and includes certain unimolecular and termolecular reactions as well as bimolecular reactions and energy transfer processes. Results for more than 50 families of A + BC → AB + C atom transfer reactions reveal simple impulsive and persistent complex regimes that correlate with electronic structure. Recent work has found examples of AB + CD → AD + BC and AB + CD + EF → AF + BC + DE reactions that require exchange of two or three pairs of bonds in a single collision event yet proceed with practically no activation energy. Processes akin to liquid phase reactions are also becoming accessible to dynamical studies using beams of van der Waals polymers or solvation clusters.