Although the great majority of organic chemistry is carried out in solution, the gas-phase provides many advantages in probing reaction mechanisms. First, it is possible to study reactions in a well-characterized, inert environment and probe intermediates that are too reactive to isolate or characterize in solution. Second, in the absence of solvation and ion pairing effects, it is possible to investigate the intrinsic reaction mechanism and confidently attribute reactivity trends to the characteristics of the reaction partners. Current projects focus on reactive intermediates in organometallic chemistry, C-H activation processes, and unusual mechanisms in nucleophilic aromatic substitution.
