ABSTRACT
Many chemical reactions in atmospheric aerosols and bulk aqueous environments are influenced by the surrounding solvation shell, but the precise molecular interactions underlying such effects have rarely been elucidated. We exploited recent advances in isomer-specific cluster vibrational spectroscopy to explore the fundamental relation between the hydrogen (H)-bonding arrangement of a set of ion-solvating water molecules and the chemical activity of this ensemble. We find that the extent to which the nitrosonium ion (NO+)and water form nitrous acid (HONO) and a hydrated proton cluster in the critical trihydrate depends sensitively on the geometrical arrangement of the water molecules in the network. Theoretical analysis of these data details the role of the water network in promoting charge delocalization.
ABSTRACT
Mass spectrometry played a key role in the development of the understanding of the earth's ionosphere. Of primary importance was its use for in situ atmospheric measurements of the ion and neutral composition of the atmosphere. Mass spectrometry has also played an essential role in the laboratory measurement of critical ionospheric molecular processes. Examples of both are given.
