FEMTOCHEMISTRY OF ICN IN LIQUIDS - DYNAMICS OF DISSOCIATION, RECOMBINATION AND ABSTRACTION

The femtosecond reaction dynamics of ICN in the liquids CHCl3, CH2Cl3, and CDCl3 are reported. As in gas phase studies, we probed the dynami cs of bond breakage and rotational alignment, but now in the presence of the solvent structure. Furthermore, we observed the subsequent proc ess of solvent-induced atom-diatom recombination and examined its role in the overall mechanism of hydrogen (and chlorine) abstraction react ion. The elementary dynamics in these liquid solutions, and for two di fferent states of the reaction (CN + I and CN + I), are compared with molecular dynamics simulations, which provide a remarkably good micro scopic picture of the different femtochemical steps.