These two volumes on Femtochemistry present a timely contribution to a field central to the understanding of the dynamics of the chemical bond. This century has witnessed great strides in time and space resolutions, down to the atomic scale, providing chemists, biologists and physicists with unprecedented opportunities for seeing microscopic structures and dynamics. Femtochemistry is concerned with the time resolution of the most elementary motions of atoms during chemical change -- bond breaking and bond making -- on the femtosecond (10-15 second) time scale. This atomic scale of time resolution has now reached the ultimate for the chemical bond and as Lord George Porter puts it, chemists are near the end of the race against time. These two volumes cover the general concepts, techniques and applications of femtochemistry.Professor Ahmed Zewail, who has made the pioneering contributions in this field, has from over 250 publications selected the articles for this anthology. These volumes begin with a commentary and a historical chronology of the milestones. He then presents a broad perspective of the current state of knowledge in femtochemistry by researchers around the world and discusses possible new directions. In the words of a colleague, "it is a must on the reading-list for all of my students ... all readers will find this to be an informative and valuable overview."The introductory articles in Volume I provide reviews for both the non-experts as well as for experts in the field. This is followed by papers on the basic concepts. For applications, elementary reactions are studied first and then complex reactions. Volume I is complete with studies of solvation dynamics, non-reactive systems, ultrafast electron diffraction and the control of chemical reactions.Volume II continues with reaction rates, the concept of elementary intramolecular vibrational-energy redistribution (IVR) and the phenomena of rotational coherence which has become a powerful tool for the determination of molecular structure via time resolution. The second volume ends with an extensive list of references, according to topics, based on work by Professor Zewail and his group at Caltech.These collected works by Professor Zewail will certainly be indispensable to both experts and beginners in the field. The author is known for his clarity and for his creative and systematic contributions. These volumes will be of interest and should prove useful to chemists, biologists and physicists. As noted by Professor J Manz (Berlin) and Professor A W Castleman, Jr. (Penn State): femtochemistry is yielding exciting new discoveries from analysis to control of chemical reactions, with applications in many domains of chemistry and related fields, e.g., physical, organic and inorganic chemistry, surface science, molecular biology, ... etc.

This book contains important contributions from top international scientists on the-state-of-the-art of femtochemistry and femtobiology at the beginning of the new millennium. It consists of reviews and papers on ultrafast dynamics in molecular science.The coverage of topics highlights several important features of molecular science from the viewpoint of structure (space domain) and dynamics (time domain). First of all, the book presents the latest developments, such as experimental techniques for understanding ultrafast processes in gas, condensed and complex systems, including biological molecules, surfaces and nanostructures. At the same time it stresses the different ways to control the rates and pathways of reactive events in chemistry and biology. Particular emphasis is given to biological processes as an area where femtodynamics is becoming very useful for resolving the structural dynamics from techniques such as electron diffraction, and X-ray and IR spectroscopy. Finally, the latest developments in quantum control (in both theory and experiment) and the experimental pulse-shaping techniques are described.

These two volumes on Femtochemistry present a timely contribution to a field central to the understanding of the dynamics of the chemical bond. This century has witnessed great strides in time and space resolutions, down to the atomic scale, providing chemists, biologists and physicists with unprecedented opportunities for seeing microscopic structures and dynamics. Femtochemistry is concerned with the time resolution of the most elementary motions of atoms during chemical change - bond breaking and bond making - on the femtosecond (10-15 second) time scale. This atomic scale of time resolution has now reached the ultimate for the chemical bond and as Lord George Porter puts it, chemists are near the end of the race against time. These two volumes cover the general concepts, techniques and applications of femtochemistry.Professor Ahmed Zewail, who has made the pioneering contributions in this field, has from over 250 publications selected the articles for this anthology. These volumes begin with a commentary and a historical chronology of the milestones. He then presents a broad perspective of the current state of knowledge in femtochemistry by researchers around the world and discusses possible new directions. In the words of a colleague, ';it is a must on the reading-list for all of my students ...; all readers will find this to be an informative and valuable overview.';The introductory articles in Volume I provide reviews for both the non-experts as well as for experts in the field. This is followed by papers on the basic concepts. For applications, elementary reactions are studied first and then complex reactions. Volume I is complete with studies of solvation dynamics, non-reactive systems, ultrafast electron diffraction and the control of chemical reactions.Volume II continues with reaction rates, the concept of elementary intramolecular vibrational-energy redistribution (IVR) and the phenomena of rotational coherence which has become a powerful tool for the determination of molecular structure via time resolution. The second volume ends with an extensive list of references, according to topics, based on work by Professor Zewail and his group at Caltech.These collected works by Professor Zewail will certainly be indispensable to both experts and beginners in the field. The author is known for his clarity and for his creative and systematic contributions. These volumes will be of interest and should prove useful to chemists, biologists and physicists. As noted by Professor J Manz (Berlin) and Professor A W Castleman, Jr. (Penn State): femtochemistry is yielding exciting new discoveries from analysis to control of chemical reactions, with applications in many domains of chemistry and related fields, e.g., physical, organic and inorganic chemistry, surface science, molecular biology, ...; etc.

This book reflects the heights of knowledge of ultrafast chemical processes attained in these early years of the 21st century : the latest research in femtosecond and picosecond molecular processes in Chemistry and Biology, carried out around the world, is described here in more than 110 articles. The results were presented and discussed at the VIth International Conference on Femtochemistry, in Paris, France, from July 6 to July 10, 2003. The articles published here were reviewed by referees selected from specialists in the Femtochemistry community, guaranteeing a collective responsability for the quality of the research reported in the next 564 pages. Femtochemistry is an ever-growing field, where new research areas are constantly opening up, and one which both stimulates and accompanies the development of ultrafast technologies. The increasing interest in femtobiology and chemistry at the frontier with biology is an obvious indicator of the present impact of life sciences in our society. New materials and reactions at surfaces are also some of the relatively new topics that promise rapid developments. New methodologies and technologies for probing and following in real time molecular dynamical phenomena have appeared within the last ten years or so. These methods, based on multidimensional IR spectroscopies, ultrafast X-ray and electron diffraction techniques, are well represented in this book. Of ever-improving performance, they are now applied to the characterization of structural dynamics of an increasing number of chemical and biological systems. This book reports the state of research in Femtochemistry and Femtobiology presented at Paris, at the Maison de la Chimie, in July 2003, representing the tenth anniversary of the conference. * Overview of the most recent research on ultrafast events * Application of new methodologies on chemical and biological systems * Contributions by key players in the field

This book contains important contributions from top international scientists on the-state-of-the-art of femtochemistry and femtobiology at the beginning of the new millennium. It consists of reviews and papers on ultrafast dynamics in molecular science.The coverage of topics highlights several important features of molecular science from the viewpoint of structure (space domain) and dynamics (time domain). First of all, the book presents the latest developments, such as experimental techniques for understanding ultrafast processes in gas, condensed and complex systems, including biological molecules, surfaces and nanostructures. At the same time it stresses the different ways to control the rates and pathways of reactive events in chemistry and biology. Particular emphasis is given to biological processes as an area where femtodynamics is becoming very useful for resolving the structural dynamics from techniques such as electron diffraction, and X-ray and IR spectroscopy. Finally, the latest developments in quantum control (in both theory and experiment) and the experimental pulse-shaping techniques are described.

This book highlights the latest experimental and theoretical developments in the field of femtochemistry, with papers describing the physics and chemistry of ultrafast processes in small molecules, complex molecular systems, clusters, biological systems, solids, matrices, liquids and at surfaces and interfaces. The recent developments in frequency-domain studies of femtodynamics are also presented. In addition, the latest achievements in femtosecond control of chemical reactions are presented, together with the newest techniques in real-time probing of reactions such as ultrafast x-ray or electron diffraction. The papers are rich in references giving a clearcut state-of-the-art of the topics being discussed. The book should be a valuable tool to all persons in the field and to young scientists.Contributors include: A H Zewail, J Jortner, V S Letokhov, J Manz, R S Berry, C Wittig, K B Eisenthal, A W Castleman Jr., J T Hynes, W H Gadzuk, R Kosloff, S Mukamel, K R Wilson; G Fleming, D Wiersma, K Yoshihara, V Sundström, A Apkarian, N Scherer, A Myers, R Schinke, J R Huber, R B Gerber, G Gerber and P M Champion.

The embryonic development of femtoscience stems from advances made in the generation of ultrashort laser pulses. Beginning with mode-locking of glass lasers in the 1960s, the development of dye lasers brought the pulse width down from picoseconds to femtoseconds. The breakthrough in solid state laser pulse generation provided the current reliable table-top laser systems capable of average power of about 1 watt, and peak power density of easily watts per square centimeter, with pulse widths in the range of four to eight femtoseconds. Pulses with peak power density reaching watts per square centimeter have been achieved in laboratory settings and, more recently, pulses of sub-femtosecond duration have been successfully generated. As concepts and methodologies have evolved over the past two decades, the realm of ultrafast science has become vast and exciting and has impacted many areas of chemistry, biology and physics, and other fields such as materials science, electrical engineering, and optical communication. In molecular science the explosive growth of this research is for fundamental reasons. In femtochemistry and femtobiology chemical bonds form and break on the femtosecond time scale, and on this scale of time we can freeze the transition states at configurations never before seen. Even for n- reactive physical changes one is observing the most elementary of molecular processes. On a time scale shorter than the vibrational and rotational periods the ensemble behaves coherently as a single-molecule trajectory.

Comprehensive manual embracing essentially all the classical and modern areas of chemical kinetics. Provides details of modern applications in chemistry, technology and biochemistry.Special sections of the book treat subjects not covered sufficiently in other manuals, including: modern methods of experimental determination of rate constants of reactions including laser pico- and femtochemistry, magnetochemistry, and ESR; and descriptions of advanced theories of elementary chemical processes.- Comprehensive manual covering practically all areas of chemical kinetics, both classical and modern. - Adequate coverage given to topics not covered sufficiently by other works. - Covers fundamentals and recent developments in homogeneous catalysis and its modeling from a chemical kinetics perspective.

This book presents the latest developments in Femtosecond Chemistry and Physics for the study of ultrafast photo-induced molecular processes. Molecular systems, from the simplest H2 molecule to polymers or biological macromolecules, constitute central objects of interest for Physics, Chemistry and Biology, and despite the broad range of phenomena that they exhibit, they share some common behaviors. One of the most significant of those is that many of the processes involving chemical transformation (nuclear reorganization, bond breaking, bond making) take place in an extraordinarily short time, in or around the femtosecond temporal scale (1 fs = 10-15 s). A number of experimental approaches - very particularly the developments in the generation and manipulation of ultrashort laser pulses - coupled with theoretical progress, provide the ultrafast scientist with powerful tools to understand matter and its interaction with light, at this spatial and temporal scale. This book is an attempt to reunite some of the state-of-the-art research that is being carried out in the field of ultrafast molecular science, from theoretical developments, through new phenomena induced by intense laser fields, to the latest techniques applied to the study of molecular dynamics.

This book deals with a central topic at the interface of chemistry and physics - the understanding of how the transformation of matter takes place at the atomic level. Building on the laws of physics, the book focuses on the theoretical framework for predicting the outcome of chemical reactions. The style is highly systematic with attention to basic concepts and clarity of presentation. Molecular reaction dynamics is about the detailed atomic-level description of chemical reactions. Based on quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics or, as an approximation, classical mechanics, the dynamics of uni- and bi-molecular elementary reactions are described. The book features a detailed presentation of transition-state theory which plays an important role in practice, and a comprehensive discussion of basic theories of reaction dynamics in condensed phases. Examples and end-of-chapter problems are included in order to illustrate the theory and its connection to chemical problems.