TY - JOUR
T1 - Electron-driven acid-base chemistry
T2 - Proton transfer from hydrogen chloride to ammonia
AU - Eustis, Soren N.
AU - Radisic, Dunja
AU - Bowen, Kit H.
AU - Bachorz, Rafa A.
AU - Haranczyk, Maciej
AU - Schenter, Gregory K.
AU - Gutowski, Maciej
PY - 2008/2/15
Y1 - 2008/2/15
N2 - In contrast to widely familiar acid-base behavior in solution, single molecules of NH3 and HCl do not react to form the ionic salt, NH 4+Cl-, in isolation. We applied anion photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio theory to investigate the interaction of an excess electron with the hydrogen-bonded complex NH3?HCl. Our results show that an excess electron induces this complex to form the ionic salt. We propose a mechanism that proceeds through a dipole-bound state to form the negative ion of ionic ammonium chloride, a species that can also be characterized as a deformed Rydberg radical, NH 4, polarized by a chloride anion, Cl-.
AB - In contrast to widely familiar acid-base behavior in solution, single molecules of NH3 and HCl do not react to form the ionic salt, NH 4+Cl-, in isolation. We applied anion photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio theory to investigate the interaction of an excess electron with the hydrogen-bonded complex NH3?HCl. Our results show that an excess electron induces this complex to form the ionic salt. We propose a mechanism that proceeds through a dipole-bound state to form the negative ion of ionic ammonium chloride, a species that can also be characterized as a deformed Rydberg radical, NH 4, polarized by a chloride anion, Cl-.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=39349097491&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1126/science.1151614
DO - 10.1126/science.1151614
M3 - Article
C2 - 18276886
SN - 0036-8075
VL - 319
SP - 936
EP - 939
JO - Science
JF - Science
IS - 5865
ER -