title: Gas-phase ionic reactions: dynamics and mechanism of nucleophilic displacements
abstract: Nucleophilic displacement reactions (the SN2 reaction) of ions in the gas phase are a prototypical reaction system that allows a study of dynamics, mechanisms, and structure-energy relations. This article reviews aspects of the kinetics (especially the applicability of statistical reaction rate theory), the relation of structure and reactivity, and the effects of small numbers of solvent molecules on the reaction and compares the behavior of the ionic reaction in the gas phase with that in solution.
authors.affiliation: M. L. Chabinyc, C. K. Regan, and J. I. Brauman are in the Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-5080, USA. S. L. Craig is in the Central Research and Development Department, E. I. DuPont de Nemours and Company, Incorporated,
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Chabinyc
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Craig
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Regan
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Brauman