Photoionization studies of reactive intermediates using synchrotron radiation

Photoionization of reactive intermediates with synchrotron radiation has reached a sufficiently advanced stage of development that it can now contribute to a number of areas in gas-phase chemistry and physics. These include the detection and spectroscopic study of reactive intermediates produced by bimolecular reactions, photolysis, pyrolysis or discharge sources, and the monitoring of reactive intermediates in situ in environments such as flames. This review summarises advances in the study of reactive intermediates with synchrotron radiation using photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) and constant-ionic-state (CIS) methods with angular resolution, and threshold photoelectron spectroscopy (TPES), taking examples mainly from the recent work of the Southampton group. The aim is to focus on the main information to be obtained from the examples considered. As future research in this area also involves photoelectron–photoion coincidence (PEPICO) and threshold photoelectron–photoion coincidence (TPEPICO) spectroscopy, these methods are also described and previous related work on reactive intermediates with these techniques is summarised. The advantages of using PEPICO and TPEPICO to complement and extend TPES and angularly resolved PES and CIS studies on reactive intermediates are highlighted.