“Criegee intermediates” are elusive molecules that play a pivotal role in atmospheric chemistry and are also byproducts of key combustion reactions. At the Chemical Dynamics Beamline, the reaction rates of one form of Criegee intermediate was directly measured for the first time, with some surprising results. Read more »
ALS Work Using Mass Spectrometry
Mass spectrometry is an experimental technique used for identifying molecules. Neutral molecules are ionized, and the charged species are sorted by magnetic and/or electric fields according to mass. A mass spectrum is a plot of the ion signal intensity as a function of mass-to-charge ratio (m/z). The atoms or molecules in a sample can be identified by correlating the mass spectrum with known molecular masses or characteristic fragmentation patterns.