CONCERTED REACTION ON THE TIMESCALE OF MOLECULAR VIRBRATIONS

Author Institution: Department of Chemistry, Michigan State UniversityHigh energy excitation of gem-dihaloalkanes produces molecular iodine as one of the products. Ferntosecond transition state spectroscopy (FTS) of this reaction reveals coherent vibrational dynamics in the iodine fragment. Fourier analysis of the transienr reveals a bimodal distribution of vibrational levels in the $D^{\prime}$ state of iodine, consistent with the observed dynamics. A reaction pathway is proposed to explain the observed energy distribution