ENERGETICS AND DYNAMICS OF COMBUSTION INTERMEDIATES

This proposal describes a collaboration between the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Continetti) and the Department of Chemistry at the Uni. Roma La Sapienza (Stranges) that will apply complementary state-of-the-art experimental techniques to understanding the energetics and dynamics of combustion intermediates. The chemistry of transient combustion intermediates is central to our understanding of the efficiency of fossil fuel combustion and its environmental impacts, including the formation of soot and other aerosols. At UCSD, pioneering work using negative ion precursors and fast beam translational spectroscopy has been carried out to characterize neutral alkoxy radicals and most recently the essential hydroxycarbonyl radical (HOCO), the intermediate in the fundamental reaction of OH + CO ⟶ H + CO2, using the technique of Photoelectron-Photofragment Coincidence (PPC) Spectroscopy. At La Sapienza, Prof. Stranges has established a state-of-the-art laboratory using Photofragment Translational Spectroscopy (PTS) with universal mass-spectrometric detection, and has made a number of important discoveries concerning the photochemistry of the allyl radical. This collaborative effort will be initiated with the visit of Professor Continetti to La Sapienza from January – May 2013, and will lay the foundation for further exchange of students and postdoctoral fellows as well as the PI’s, as time permits, in the future.