Dynamics and Photochemistry of Neutral van der Waals Clusters

Abstract

This review covers the field of excited electronic-state chemical reactions in small clusters. The clusters emphasized are those comprised of an organic chromophore that is electronically excited to initiate the reaction and of various coreactant molecules ranging from water and ammonia to ethers, amines, aromatics, alkanes, alkenes, and diatomics. The reactions discussed include vibrational relaxation, vibrational predissociation, electron transfer, proton transfer, and radical additions. The reactions are analyzed based on laser-induced fluorescence excitation, dispersed emission, mass-resolved excitation spectroscopy, stimulated emission pumping, and picosecond time-resolved implementation of these spectroscopies.