Foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Prof. Alec Wodtke for all the interesting and challenging projects I could be involved in. Your interest and support have advanced my understanding of the research topics to a great deal. I appreciate both the space you gave me and time you took to talk things over when necessary. Thank you very much.My sincere thanks also goes to Dr. Sascha Kandratsenka for his supportive supervision. Your calmness and patience is enviable and I enjoyed every second talking to you inside or outside about work-related or random topics.I also want to thank my thesis advisory committee which consists of Prof. Ricardo Mata and Prof. Peter Saalfrank, in addition to Prof. Wodtke. I feel very certain that you would have taken the time to discuss the issue had I met any insurmountable obstacles.Next, I want to say thank you to all members of this group. It was always a great pleasure to have you around, whether is was making some music at one or the other event, playing kicker, or really any other time. I think you all are working conscientiously without being dogged which I also found very enjoyable.Last, but not least, I want to thank my family for their love, support and encouragement they brought forth not only during my Ph.D., but during the entire time of my studies. I am also grateful to my friends in Göttingen and the greater Wolfsburg area who have been so welcoming time and time again during each of my visits. vi