Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 10, 2026

Spatial Separation of Molecular Conformers and Clusters
Published on: January 9, 2014
Dynamics of Cl + propane, butanes revisited: a crossed beam slice imaging study
Baptiste Joalland1, Yuanyuan Shi, Nitin Patel
1Department of Chemistry, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202, USA. asuits@chem.wayne.edu.
Abstract:
We report velocity-flux contour maps for H-D abstraction in selected Cl + alkane reactions measured by means of crossed beam scattering combined with universal DC slice imaging. The studied hydrocarbons are propane and its two selectively deuterated isotopologues, namely 1,1,1,3,3,3-propane-d6 and 2,2-propane-d2, n-butane and isobutane (2-methyl-propane), with detection of the hydrocarbon radical product by 157 nm single photon ionization. Data are obtained at collision energies of 12-13 kcal mol(-1) using a high-density atomic chlorine radical source combining Cl2 photolysis with ablation. All presented scattering distributions involving secondary and tertiary abstractions show distinct differences. Their comparisons allow for revisiting the dynamical picture of these reactions in terms of the nature of the abstraction sites, radical product energy disposal, and H vs. D abstraction. Results are discussed in the light of previous work and ab initio thermochemical calculations, along with proposals to future directions for investigation.
Related Concept Videos
Conformations of Ethane and Propane
Staggered conformation is a low energy and more stable conformation with the C-H bonds on the front carbon placed at 60°dihedral angles relative to the C-H bonds on the back carbon, leading to a reduced torsional strain. In staggered ethane, the...
¹H NMR: Complex Splitting
Splitting diagrams or splitting tree diagrams are routinely used to depict such complex couplings. While drawing splitting diagrams, the splitting with the larger coupling constant is usually applied first.
Confocal Fluorescence Microscopy
¹H NMR of Conformationally Flexible Molecules: Temporal Resolution
Newman Projections
The organic molecules rotate across the single bonds leading to numerous temporary three-dimensional structures of varying energy known as conformers.
¹³C NMR: Distortionless Enhancement by Polarization Transfer (DEPT)
