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.