Ultraslow isomerization in photoexcited gas-phase carbon cluster [Formula: see text].
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 29500438.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-018-03197-w and PMC identifier 5834543.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Isomerization and carbon chemistry in the gas phase are key processes in many scientific studies. Here we report on the isomerization process from linear [Formula: see text] to its monocyclic isomer. [Formula: see text] ions were trapped in an electrostatic ion beam trap and then excited with a laser pulse of precise energy. The neutral products formed upon photoexcitation were measured as a function of time after the laser pulse. It was found using a statistical model that, although the system is excited above its isomerization barrier energy, the actual isomerization from linear to monocyclic conformation takes place on a very long time scale of up to hundreds of microseconds. This finding may indicate a general phenomenon that can affect the interstellar medium chemistry of large molecule formation as well as other gas phase processes.