Transient ISEELS: a new probe of chemical reactions

An inner shell electron energy loss spectrometer (ISEELS) has been adapted as a probe of chemical reactions by coupling its gas phase interaction region to the output of a variety of chemical reactors including thermolysis, gas phase reaction, and heterogeneous reaction systems. Three examples of transient ISEELS studies are presented: in situ generation of a reactive carbene by thermolysis of its stable dimer, reaction of a silylene with N2O in the gas phase, and the heterogeneous reactions of H2S and H2O with crystalline boron in a heated quartz tube. In the latter example, temperature dependent inner shell excitation spectra, mass spectrometry and ab initio calculations were used to show that in the high temperature limit the reaction of H2S (g) and B (s) over SiO2 (s) gives rise to borine (HBO), a species previously un-detected from this reaction chemistry.