1995/10/01 by Ian Sims, Ian W. M. Smith · 3 citations
Chemistry · Physics and Astronomy · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Spectroscopy and Laser Applications #Advanced Chemical Physics Studies #Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols
paper · doi:10.1146/annurev.pc.46.100195.000545
openalex publication_date 1995/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
Experimental studies of gas-phase chemical reactions and molecular energy transfer at very low temperatures and between electrically neutral species are reviewed. Although work of collisionally induced vibrational and rotational transfer is described, emphasis is placed on very recent results on the rates of free radical reactions obtained by applying the pulsed laser photolysis (PLP)-laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) technique in a CRESU (Cinétique de Réactions en Ecoulement Supersonique Uniforme) apparatus at temperatures as low as 13 K. These measurements demonstrate that quite a wide variety of reactions-including those between two radicals, those between radicals and unsaturated molecules, and even some of those between radicals and saturated molecules-remain rapid at very low temperatures. Theoretical efforts to explain some of these results are described, as is their impact on attempts to model the synthesis of molecules in interstellar clouds.