THE ROLE OF VAN DER WAALS COMPLEXES IN THE THERMALELECTRON ATTACHMENT PROCESSES IN THE GAS PHASE

Abstract

In this review the results and the discussion of the thermal electron capture in the many-body processes are presented for two groups of compounds, inorganic hydrides and halomethanes. it is demonstrated that in the both groups the electron capture by van der Waals complexes is responsible for the observed effects and the collisional stabilization of the negative ion state plays a minor role. It is concluded that the van der Waals complex can facilitate the process by pre-preparing the structure for a new MO (hydrogen-bonded linear complexes) or lowering the activation energy of the process (structureless vdW complexes of halomethanes).