Charge transfer reactions of organic ions containing oxygen: Correlation between reaction energetics and cross sections

Cross sections for charge transfer reactions of organic ions containing oxygen have been obtained using time‐of‐flight techniques. Charge transfer cross sections have been determined for reactions of 2.0 to 3.4 keV ions produced by electron impact ionization of oxygen containing molecules such as methanol, ethanal and ethanol. Experimental cross section magnitudes have been correlated with reaction energy defects computed from ion recombination energies and target ionization energies. Large cross sections are observed for reacting systems with small energy defects.