Articles you may be interested inTrajectory calculations of ion-molecule momentum transfer rate constants J. Chem. Phys. 95, 6471 (1991);A general method is given for obtaining ion-molecule reaction rate constants from low-pressure ion cyclotron resonance signal intensity measurements; the analysis can be applied to any kinetic scheme including those with tertiary and higher-order products. Steps in the analysis include determining the number of ions in a particular region of the analyzer, calculating from the zero-pressure ICR lineshape the power absorption from ions in that region, and then summing such contributions over all regions of the analyzer. To illustrate the analysis, explicit ICR intensity expressions are derived for a kinetic scheme with stable tertiary species. These expressions are used to determine the rate constants for the ion-molecule reactions in methyl fluoride. The resultant rate constants CH,