Final Report Summary - ISORI (Ion Spectroscopy of Reaction Intermediates) The Starting Grant ISORI (Ion Spectroscopy of Reaction Intermediates) led to the development of an innovative instrument for studying of mass-selected ions in the gas phase at temperatures close to the absolute zero point (≥ 2.6 K). For exploring the structure of ions, a versatile and general infrared spectroscopy method has been developed. It is based on the formation of complexes between the ions trapped in an ion trap and helium atoms. Helium serves as a loosely bound tag that is removed by absorption of one photon. The absorption is translated to a mass change which thus provides a sensitive way to record the absorption spectra by a mass analyzer. The trap for spectroscopic experiments is combined with a standard mass spectrometer and represents thus additional dimension for classical experiments. It can be routinely applied for characterization of reaction intermediates detected by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry as well as e.g. species of astrochemical interest such as C60+. We can measure spectra in the infrared- and the visible range and perform two-color experiments.
