Academic Staff
Dr John Christie
BSc (Hons) ANU, PhD ANU, FRACI
Honorary Fellow
Department of Chemistry
Tel: +61 (0)3 9479 2536
Fax: +61 (0)3 9479 1399
Email: j.christie@latrobe.edu.au
Research Expertise
I am a theoretical chemist, with a particular interest in the development and application of simplistic model theories for chemical problems. My main area of interest is reaction kinetics, mechanism, and energy transfer in reactions. I have sometimes tackled problems in quite diverse areas of chemistry. Current projects include:
Micellar Catalysis
My particular interest is in the analysis of kinetics of organic reactions catalysed by the presence of micelles. I am currently working on improved models for distribution of the counter-ions in ionic micelles between the Stern layer and the surrounding aqueous phase. Variation of the cmc with concentration and type of ion present is another important aspect of this work.RRKM theory applied to fragmentation of very large ions in the mass spectrometer
(Collaborations with Prof. Peter Derrick, University of Warwick, U.K. and/or Dr. Karoly Vekey, Central Research Institute for Chemistry of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.)- Breakdown of RRKM theory for single collisions of very large ions. RRKM theory predicts that single collisions with inert gas molecules will progressively become a less efficient means of producing fragmentation of molecular ions as their size increases beyond about 50 atoms, and will be totally ineffective for ions of more than about 200 atoms. There is experimental evidence that suggests that single collisions, while inefficient, are not totally ineffective at producing fragmentation in ions of over 1000 atoms. We are looking at areas where the RRKM theory may be based on assumptions inappropriate for these very large systems, and exploring modifications of the theory.
Extended impulsive collision theory for collisional energy transfer. The impulsive collision theory which is commonly used to describe energy transfer in collisions between atoms and large ions predicts that energy transfer will be close to proportionality with collision energy. For very large collision energies, there is some experimental evidence that energy transfer goes through a maximum, and then decreases with increasing collision energy in roughly inverse proportionality. The ECT can account for this effect.Theoretical modelling of Kinetic Energy Release Distributions in ion fragmentation. Macintosh based RRKM computer programs.