THE ROLE OF VAN-DER-WAALS COMPLEXES IN THE THERMAL ELECTRON-ATTACHMENT PROCESSES IN THE GAS-PHASE

In this review the results and the discussion of the thermal electron capture in the many-body processes are presented for two groups of com pounds, inorganic hydrides and halomethanes. it is demonstrated that i n the both groups the electron capture by van der Waals complexes is r esponsible for the observed effects and the collisional stabilization of the negative ion state plays a minor role. It is concluded that the van der Weals complex can facilitate the process by pre-preparing the structure for a new MO (hydrogen-bonded linear complexes) or lowering the activation energy of the process (structureless vdW complexes of halomethanes).