This award from the Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities (CRIF) Program will assist the Department of Chemistry at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to acquire a step-scan FTIR spectrometer. This equipment will enhance research in a number of areas including the following: (1) the application of time-resolved infrared spectroscopy (TRIR) to short lived excited state species and intermediates in the photophysics of transition metal-polypyridyl systems and (2) the application of TRIR and rotationally-resolved IR to the processes of aerosol nucleation and combustion. A Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer and a time-resolved IR (TRIR) can provide important information about molecular and electronic structure of short-lived transient intermediates. Their use may enable breakthroughs in our understanding of the properties of reactivity and non-reactivity of molecules..
