Observation of the transition stateHD2++in collisions, H+D2

Abstract
We report the observation of the transition state HD2 ++ in the chemical reaction H+D2→(HD2++→)HD+D. The HD2 was detected by resonantly enhanced multiphoton ionization. It was identified by velocity-selected time-of-flight mass spectrometry, and by comparison of the time dependence of its concentration with that of reagent H and product D, also studied by resonantly enhanced multiphoton ionization.