Dynamics of C-X bond dissociation in alkyl iodides by pump-probe experiments

Chemical dynamics has always been in the center of focus for physical chemists/chemical physicists for the past 100 years or so. Detailed information on the mechanism for many fundamental bond-breaking and bond-making processes came from chemical dynamics experiments and theory. In this talk I will present the dynamics of carbon-halogen bond breaking in a variety of alkyl halides by a crossed-lasers experiment using a ultraviolet pump beam which initiates the bond dissociation process and a probe beam which collects information on the nascent products. In these experiments the probing is generally done using a spectroscopic method for which knowledge of spectra of the expected products is necessary.  These bond dissociation processes are also known as half-collision processes since it gives information about the "second-half" of a collision process which is generally the fundamental event preceding a reaction. In our experiments we have used laser induced fluorescence (LIF) and resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI)  techniques to probe the halogen atoms produced in the dissociation process.  Using our own results and results from other groups, I will present how a lot more information about the most well-studied problem of C-X bond breaking is known today.