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Crossed-beam reactive scattering experiments of a nucleophilic substitution reaction show a dynamic isotope effect with a remarkable deviation from quasiclassical calculations, which is evidence for quantum dynamics in this ion-molecule reaction.

A common technique to cool down molecular ions is through collisions with a buffer gas, but that is limited by the achievable temperature of the medium. Now, an experiment demonstrates the evaporative cooling of molecular ions below previously reached temperatures.

The proton-transfer tunnelling reaction rate between H₂ and D^– has been measured as about 1 out of 10¹¹ collisions, making it the slowest rate constant ever measured for an ion–molecule reaction in the gas phase.

Little is known about how the identity of a leaving group affects the dynamics of a bimolecular nucleophilic substitution reaction. A study of the reaction of F⁻ with CH₃Cl, and comparison to its reaction with CH₃I, now reveals key insights into such effects, with reactant orientation considered a key factor in understanding the behaviour observed.

Understanding low-temperature molecular collisions is challenging, but using non-resonant photodetachment makes it possible to study the state-resolved dynamics of the inelastic collisions between hydroxyl ions and cold helium buffer gas.

How do solvent molecules influence the dynamics of a chemical reaction? Crossed-beam molecular imaging experiments reveal how different reaction mechanisms can be either suppressed or enhanced by the presence of one water molecule. The study finds that steric effects are responsible for the observed dynamics.

As the number of atoms involved in a reaction increases, so do the experimental and theoretical challenges faced when studying their dynamics. Now, using ion-imaging experiments and quasi-classical trajectory simulations, the dynamics of the polyatomic reaction F^– + CH₃CH₂Cl have been studied and the competition between bimolecular nucleophilic substitution and base-induced elimination has been disentangled.

The competition between chemical reactions critically affects our natural environment and the synthesis of new materials. Here, the authors present an approach to directly image distinct fingerprints of essential organic reactions and monitor their competition as a function of steric substitution.

Light is often used to trigger reactions, energetically exciting the reactant(s) to kick them over the intrinsic reaction barrier. Now, however, the reaction between an excited atom and a charged molecule at very low temperatures has been shown not to adhere to this paradigm, instead undergoing a reaction blockading effect.

Cold collisions between hydrogen molecules and helium atoms reveal how the change from spherical to non-spherical symmetry creates a quantum scattering resonance.

Associative electronic detachment (AED) reactions of anions play a key role in many natural processes. Here, Hassan and colleagues investigate AED reactions between hydroxyl anions and ultracold rubidium atoms in a hybrid atom-ion trap, revealing different dynamics for collisions with ground and electronically excited state rubidium.