This volume presents the proceedings of the 1990 Advanced Study Institute entitled "Fundamentals of Gas Phase Ion Chemistry" held at Mont Ste. Odile , Alsace, France, 25th June -6th July, 1990. The Institute brought together over 100 physicists, physical and organic chemists working on a wide variety of topics with gas-phase ion chemistry as the common theme. Many different viewpoints, making use of very different experimental and theoretical approaches, were brought to bear on the subject and provided a stimulating and up-to-date account of the subject. Although the Institute was built around the invited lectures, many specific points were addressed in workshops which consisted of informal discussion groups which were organised by participants during the Institute. This volume therefore contains not only chapters based on the lectures but summaries of many of the workshops which adds considerably to the diversity of information presented. This Advanced Study Institute was the fifth in a series of NATO-sponsored institutes devoted to various aspects of the physics and chemistry of gas phase ions. These meetings have been held every four years since the first, held in Biarritz in 1974, considered "Interactions between Ions and Molecules". The five volumes which comprise the proceedings of these meetings illustrate very clearly the many advances in theory and experiment which have taken place over the last 20 years.

Inhalt
Multiphoton Ionisation: Part 1 Fundamental Principles.- Multiphoton Ionisation: Part 2 Applications.- Ion Dissociation And Ion-Molecule Reactions Studied With State-Selected Ions.- Generation And Reactivity Of State Selected Atomic And Size Selected Transition Metal Cluster Ions.- Techniques For Preparing And Studying The Properties Of Large Cluster Ions By High Resolution Mass Spectrometry.- Chemical Reactions In And On Cluster Ions.- Semiconductor Cluster Ion Reactions And Energetics.- Gas-Phase Metal Ion Chemistry: Summary Of The Panel Discussion.- Cluster Ion Chemistry: Summary Of The Workshop.- Characterization Of Ions Via Their Electronic Transitions.- Vibrational Mode Effects In Polyatomic Ion Reactions.- Workshop: The Role Of Energy In Ion-Molecule Processes.- Radiative Association: Summary Of The Workshop Presentations.- Workshop: Spectroscopy Of Ions.- The Search For Elusive Potentially Interstellar Neutrals By Neutralization-Reionization Mass Spectrometry: Polycarbon Chalcogenides X(Cn)Y (X,Y:0,S)..- The Measurement And Interpretation Of Onset Energies.- Thermodynamic Information From Drift-Tube Experiments? Summary Of The Panel Discussion.- Ion Thermochemistry: Summary Of The Panel Discussion.- Collisional Studies Of Gaseous Negative Ions.- Fundamentals Of Collisional Activation: Summary Of The Panel Discussion.- Time-Resolved Studies Of Unimolecular Gas-Phase Ion Decompositions By Held Ionization Kinetics.- Ion-Molecule Reactions And Stereochemistry In Tandem Mass Spectrometry.- E2/SN2 And Other Organic Ion Molecule Reactions: Summary Of The Panel Discussion.- Isomers And Isomerization Of Molecular Ions: The Formation Of Stable Ion-Neutral Complexes During Unimolecular Dissociation.- Industrial Applications Of Gas Phase Ion Chemistry.- Applications Of MassSpectrometry In An Industrial Research Laboratory.