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Ion chemistry, first discovered 100 years ago, has profitably been coupled with statistical rate theories, developed about 80 years ago and refined since. In this overview, the application of statistical rate theory to the analysis of kinetic-energy-dependent collision-induced dissociation (CID) reactions is reviewed. This procedure accounts for and quantifies the kinetic shifts that are observed as systems increase in size. The statistical approach developed allows straightforward extension to systems undergoing competitive or sequential dissociations. Such methods can also be applied to the reverse of the CID process, association reactions, as well as to quantitative analysis of ligand exchange processes. Examples of each of these types of reactions are provided and the literature surveyed for successful applications of this statistical approach to provide quantitative thermochemical information. Such applications include metal-ligand complexes, metal clusters, proton-bound complexes, organic intermediates, biological systems, saturated organometallic complexes, and hydrated and solvated species.
Armentrout et al. (Tue,) studied this question.