1. Could you explain the significance of your article to the non-specialist?

The article describes measurements that provide fine details of energy flow in a system in which hydrogen chloride is weakly hydrogen-bonded to acetylene.   The study demonstrates that while general propensity rules exist on how energy is coupled to the dissociation coordinate and to other degrees of freedom, it is the fine details of how the energy is deposited in the dimer and its subsequent propagation into the two dimer moieties that determine final energy distributions in the products.   The study also illustrates how kinematic constraints can affect energy flow patterns. 

2. What has motivated you to conduct this work?

The work was motivated by the need to better understand hydrogen bonding ranging from weak to strong, in order to understand the creation and breakage of hydrogen bonds in complex environments e.g. biological systems.   The results can serve as benchmarks for high level calculations.

3. Where do you see this work developing in the future?

In the future it should be possible to span the range of hydrogen bonding from weak bonds whose strength is only slightly stronger than van der Waals bonds to strong hydrogen bonds that are stable at room temperature.   It should also be possible to investigate the role of solvents and solids in affecting bond length and strength.

4. Are there any particular challenges facing future research in this area?

The challenges in going into more complex species are numerous and include the generation of complexes of specific composition, the increased complexity of the spectra, and the increased spectral broadening that leads to overlap.   The capabilities of imaging-based spectroscopy, which can be defined as "dynamic spectroscopy", help in overcoming many of the obstacles that impeded such experiments in the past.