Ryan Z. Hinrichs

Rotatable source crossed molecular beams apparatus with pulsed ultraviolet/vacuum ultraviolet photoionization detection

A newly constructed universal crossed molecular beams apparatus for studies of bimolecular chemical reaction dynamics is described. The apparatus employs two rotatable molecular beam sources and a fixed ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) quadrupole mass spectrometer with electron impact or pulsed photoionization of reaction products. Electronically cold neutral supersonic transition metal atomic beams are produced in one of the rotatable sources using laser vaporization. The beams are characterized by laser induced fluorescence spectroscopy, photodepletion spectroscopy, and time-of-flight analysis. Photoionization of the ZrC2H2 products from the crossed beam reaction Zr+C2H4→ZrC2H2+H2 is carried out using the pulsed 157 nm radiation from a F2 excimer laser in the UHV region of the mass spectrometer. Compared to conventional electron impact ionization, 157 nm photoionization improves signal-to-noise ratios by more than two orders of magnitude for experiments using pulsed beam sources where cross correlation methods ca...

Crossed beams study of C-H bond activation: Mo(5S2)+CH4→MoCH2+H2

The reaction of metastable Mo(5S2s1d5) with methane was studied using the method of crossed molecular beams. Angular and velocity distributions of the MoCH2 products were obtained at relative collision energies of 7.2 and 13.0 kcal/mol. The center-of-mass MoCH2 angular distributions exhibited forward–backward symmetry, consistent with a mechanism involving C–H bond insertion forming HMoCH3 followed by H2 elimination. The potential energy barrier for insertion of Mo(5S2s1d5) into CH4 is less than or equal to 7.2 kcal/mol.

Competing reaction pathways from Y+C2H2 collisions

The crossed molecular beams method with 193 and 157 nm photoionization detection was used to study the competing reaction pathways resulting from collisions of ground state Y atoms with acetylene (C2H2). Three channels, corresponding to nonreactive decay of collision complexes, H2 elimination, and H atom elimination, were studied as a function of collision energy (〈Ecoll〉=6–25 kcal/mol). Production of YC2+H2 and decay of long-lived complexes back to reactants were observed at all collision energies studied. Product translational energy distributions for the H2 elimination channel demonstrate that a substantial fraction of excess energy available to the YC2+H2 products is channeled into relative translational energy. Analogous H2 elimination channels were studied in reactions of Zr and Nb with C2H2 at 〈Ecoll〉=6.0 kcal/mol. For these reactions, the H2 elimination product translational energy distributions were found to peak near zero kinetic energy, in contrast to the behavior observed for the YC2+H2 produc...

C-C versus C-H Bond Activation of Alkynes by Early Second-Row Transition Metal Atoms

The reactions of Y (a2D), Zr (a3F), Nb (a6D), Mo (a7S), and electronically excited-state Mo* (a5S) with propyne (methylacetylene) and 2-butyne (1,2-dimethylacetylene) were investigated using crossed molecular beams. For all of the metals studied, reactions with propyne led to H2 elimination, forming MC3H2. For Y + propyne, C-C bond cleavage forming YCCH + CH3 also was observed, with an energetic threshold in good agreement with an earlier determination of D0(Y-CCH). For Y + 2-butyne, three reactive channels were observed: YC4H4 + H2, YC3H3 + CH3, and YC3H2 + CH4. The C-C bond cleavage products accounted for 21 and 27% of the total products at Ecoll = 69 and 116 kJ/mol, respectively. For Zr and Nb reactions with 2-butyne, competition between H2 and CH4 elimination was observed, with C-C bond cleavage accounting for 12 and 4% of the total product signal at Ecoll = 71 kJ/mol, respectively. For reactions of Mo and Mo* with 2-butyne, only H2 elimination was observed. The similarity between reactions involving two isomeric species, propyne and allene, suggests that H atom migration is facile in these systems.

Crossed beams studies of Mo(a 7S3) and Mo*(a 5S2) collisions with CH4 and C2H6

The interactions of Mo(a 7S3) and Mo*(a 5S2) with methane, CH4, and ethane, C2H6, were studied under single collision conditions using the crossed molecular beams technique. Ground state Mo(a 7S3) atoms were found to be unreactive at all collision energies studied up to 〈Ecoll〉=35.4 kcal/mol. Nonreactive scattering of Mo(a 7S3) with methane and ethane was studied and compared to collisions with Ne and Ar. A forward peaking center-of-mass angular distribution, T(Θ), was necessary to simulate the elastic collisions with inert gases as well as inelastic collisions with the alkanes. At a collision energy of 14.4 kcal/mol with CH4 and 21.0 kcal/mol with C2H6, inelastic collisions were found to transfer ∼10% and ∼19% of the initial kinetic energy into alkane internal energy, respectively. For collisions of Mo*(a 5S2)+CH4, the dehydrogenation product, MoCH2, was observed at all collision energies studied down to 2.1 kcal/mol. The reaction Mo*(a 5S2)+C2H6→MoC2H4+H2 was observed down to 〈Ecoll〉=4.5 kcal/mol. For a...

Dynamics of Y+H2CO reactions

The reactions of ground state yttrium atoms (Y) with formaldehyde (H2CO) have been studied in crossed molecular beams as a function of collision energy (Ecoll). The potential energy barrier for C–H insertion is found to lie below 12 kcal/mol. It is proposed that the reaction is initiated by C–H insertion, producing HYCHO followed by H atom migration forming H2YCO. Although Y–CO bond fission leading to YH2+CO is dominant, a secondary minor channel also leads to the production of YCO+H2. Formation of YCHO+H is not observed at 16 kcal/mol, but is clearly seen at 31 kcal/mol, indicating that D0(Y–CHO) lies between 58 and 73 kcal/mol.

Transition metal chemistry in crossed molecular beams

Bimolecular state-selective chemistry has been performed using the technique of crossed molecular beams. Systems of current study involve transition metal atoms (M) interacting with small hydrocarbons, in particular: Mo + CH4, Zr + C2H4, and V + C2H4. Atomic metal reactants are prepared state-specifically by laser excitation followed by radiative decay. Nascent products were allowed to drift to a triply differentially pumped detector where they were ionized by either conventional electron impact or VUV photoionization and counted to obtain product angular and velocity distributions. C-H bond activation was observed for the former two systems, but not for the V systems. This behavior is rationalized in terms of the electronic configurations of the atomic reactants.