In this award, funded by the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program of the Division of Chemistry, Professor Tomas Baer of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, together with his graduate, and undergraduate students, will investigate the thermochemistry of organometallic complexes in the gas phase using the technique of threshold photoelectron photoion coincidence (TPEPICO) mass spectrometry at Chapel Hill in concert with imaging photoelectron photoion coincidence (iPEPICO) measurements at the Swiss Light Source with Prof. Thomas Gerber. The project will also involve a collaboration with Prof. Bálint Sztáray and his students from Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest, Hungary).
Organometallic species are important actors in a number of industrial chemical settings. An understanding of their bond energies, etc. is important to building up models of how these species react. The goal of work like that of Prof. Baer is to provide accurate and precise values of these bond energies.. In addition to the broader scientific impact of the proposed research work, Prof. Baer's students will receive significant exposure to some of the cutting-edge science being pursued in Europe -- training a new cadre of globally-engaged scientists in the United States.
