Selectivity of weak intermolecular forces and precursor state of elementary oxidation reactions, a new insight on...

This paper reports on the collision dynamics of N₂ with metastable Ne^* promoting chemiionizations, prototype of barrier-less oxidation reactions of great interest for fundamental and applied research. Extending guidelines presented in previous papers for the atom-atom case, an innovative treatment of the reaction stereodynamics involving molecules in a quantum state-to-state resolution conditions is proposed that emphasizes the role of structure and stability of the precursor that is here the reaction transition state. A critical test of such treatment, carried out exploiting a new formulation both of real and imaginary parts of the optical potential driving the reaction dynamics, is represented by the detailed-combined description of all relevant findings, provided by high resolution molecular beam scattering experiments carried out in our and other laboratories. The present analysis casts light on basic electronic rearrangements of such prototype oxidation reaction which are expected to be of fundamental interest for many other reactions involving open shell atoms and free radicals.