Active control of product selection in a chemical reaction: a view of the current scene

A brief overview is given of active control of product selection in a chemical reaction. Attention is then focussed on the use of coherent superpositions of states to control molecular dynamics. Both adiabatic and non-adiabatic population transfer generated by use of coherent superpositions of states are considered. After discussion of the optical control of the molecular dynamics of isolated molecules, a plausible model for the influence of solvent on the states of a solute molecule is introduced. Studies using this model imply that optical control of molecular dynamics in liquid solution should be possible.