Recoil chemistry with polyvalent atoms

While such a reaction is in principle possible, it is expected to occur with very low eflBciency. In the recoil chemistry of polyvalent atoms, chemically stable reaction products are likely to be formed in multistep reaction sequences rather than in single reactive collisions. This implies the formation of reactive intermediates, which is the feature that most clearly distinguishes the study of polyvalent atoms from the investigation of monovalent atoms. 

A natural area of interest for chemists studying high-energy polyvalent atoms is cosmochemistry. With growing indications that high-energy reactions of carbon and silicon atoms are important processes in the formation of interstellar grains, it can be predicted with confidence that the recoil chemistry of polyvalent atoms will claim the attention of cosmochemists and laboratory astrophysicists (129-133). 

Recoil Chemistry and Mechanistic Studies with Polyvalent Atoms... 

Cl (12), I (13), N (14), Si (9), other polyvalent atoms (15), and of muonium (16). Reviews have also been published on the reactions of recoil atoms with arenes (17), (halo)ethylenes (18), and (halo)-methanes (19). The capture of ir in hydrogenated species is sometimes considered as a part of recoil chemistry (20), and so also are reactions of species formed after decay of multiply labeled (T, 14C) molecules (21-23), for example,... 

Before we see what has been accomplished and what can be done through the study of polyvalent recoiling atoms, we should compare the field with the chemistry of monovalent and divalent atoms. It is by no means a historical accident that much of the progress made by hot atom... 

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