This U.S.-Brazil Cooperative Science award will support the collaboration of John Eyler of the University of Florida and Jose Riveros of the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil. The project will focus on determining the infrared spectra and binding energies of negative ions with one or two solvent molecules attached to them. Both laboratories involved are equipped with mass spectrometric (Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance) and laser instrumentation. The U.S. group, which includes two students, has an electrospray ionization source that will provide an alternative method of forming singly solvated anions, and probably the only means of forming doubly solvated anions. The US group is also equipped for two-laser infrared multiple photon dissociation experiments, which permit infrared spectra of ions to be obtained in previously inaccessible wavelength regions. The Brazilian side will contribute expertise in forming the anion solvates by ion/molecule reactions. The collaboration will likely increase understanding of the effects that the first and second solvent molecule have on isolated ions, and thus of the transition from "naked" ions in the gas phase to fully solvated ions in solution.
