Size dependence of gaseous cluster reactivity as a mechanistic probe

The determination of the mechanisms of chemical and physical changes is one of the principal occupations of many chemists today. To accomplish this, the dependence of the change being examined on a number of intensive variables such as temperature, pressure, concentration of reactants as well as the pH is usually studied. In this account, we summarize our recent studies on the reactivity and dynamics of niobium gaseous clusters in which their changes with size are used as a new degree of freedom that assists in deducing the mechanism of the change studied.