Nucleophilic substitution within the photoionized van der Waals complex C₆H₅Cl-NH₃

Efficient generation of C₆H₅NH₃⁺ was found after the selective ionization of the van der Waals complex C₆H₅Cl-NH₃ which was prepared in a supersonic molecular beam. The action spectrum of the product and its appearance energy were observed by using the two-color mass-selected multiphoton ionization spectroscopy. From the energetics of the reaction it was concluded that the ion-molecule reaction is responsible for the process and the product is generated by the nucleophilic substitution reaction occurring within the photoionized van der Waals complex.