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Updated: Jun 16, 2026

Targeted Studies Using Serial Block Face and Focused Ion Beam Scan Electron Microscopy
Published on: August 10, 2019
Crossed-beam studies of electron transfer to oriented trichloronitromethane, CCl(3)NO(2), molecules
Peter W Harland1, Philip R Brooks
1Department of Chemistry and Rice Quantum Institute, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77251, USA.
Abstract:
Fast potassium atoms donate an electron to CCl(3)NO(2) molecules to form K(+) ions and the negative ions O(-), Cl(-), NO(2) (-), CCl(3) (-), CCl(2)NO(2) (-), CCl(3)NO(-), and CCl(3)NO(2) (-). Threshold energies are measured for these ions and electron affinities for CCl(2)NO(2) (-), CCl(3)NO(-), and CCl(3)NO(2) (-) are estimated to be 2.35, 2.35, and 1.89 eV (+/-0.6 eV), respectively. The threshold energies show that the C-N and N-O bonds are substantially weaker than in nitromethane. The CCl(3)NO(2) molecules are oriented before the collision and at energies near 2.5 eV the electron appears to transfer to the pi( *) (NO) orbital forming the parent negative ion, CCl(3)NO(2) (-), which is stabilized by interacting with the K(+) donor. As the collision energy increases the parent negative ion fragments and the orientation dependence of the fragment ions helps understand the fragmentation pathway.
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