Pre-reactive intermediates in gas-phase chemical reactions: a contribution from rotational spectroscopy

Abstract

The detection and detailed characterisation of pre-reactive intermediates in gas mixtures through their microwave rotational spectra are described. Spectra were observed by using two special types of nozzle (a fast-mixing nozzle or a glow-discharge nozzle) in a pulsed-nozzle, Fourier-transform instrument. The pre-reactive intermediates are considered for one example of each of the following reaction types: a ring-opening reaction (1), the addition reaction of a halogen to a π bond (2), the abstraction reaction of H from a molecule by fluorine (3), a proton transfer reaction (4), a reaction in which a compound having a dative bond is formed (5), and a prototype unimolecular reaction (6).