REACTIVITY OF ALUMINUM OXIDE CLUSTERS: An Anion Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Mass Spectrometry, and Density Functional Theory Study of Isomeric Separation and Gas Phase Reactions

Aluminum oxide is utilized in a broad range of applications in materials, chemistry and physics and is one of the more abundant materials in the earth?s crust. To gain control of the catalytic reactions on its surface and to increase its utility, aluminum oxide has been the subject of many years of chemical research in both experimental and theoretical avenues. Morphology as well as variety and proximity of reactive sites on bulk aluminum oxide prompted a nanoscopic approach: use of small AlxOy cluster species in the gas phase as models of reactive moieties. This book is a chronicle of the study of solvation of two structural isomers of Al3O3 anion with H2O, D2O, and CH3OH using time-of-flight mass spectrometry, anion photoelectron and hole burning spectroscopy and, density functional theory. In addition to shedding light on mechanisms of formation and reactivity of aluminum oxides in the gas phase, this book introduces a new data processing methodology. Therefore, it should be useful for academicians as well as graduate students in the areas of molecular physics, spectroscopy, computational chemistry, materials science, and catalysis.