Coauthored Publications with: Li

Journal Article

Li, H-K, Tsai P-Y, Hung K-C, Kasai T, Lin K-C.  2015.  Communication: Photodissociation of CH3CHO at 308 nm: Observation of H-roaming, CH3-roaming, and transition state pathways together along the ground state surface. Journal of Chemical Physics. 142, Number 4 AbstractWebsite

Following photodissociation of acetaldehyde (CH3CHO) at 308 nm, the CO(v = 1-4) fragment is acquired using time-resolved Fourier-transform infrared emission spectroscopy. The CO(v = 1) rotational distribution shows a bimodal feature; the low- and high-J components result from H-roaming around CH3CO core and CH3-roaming around CHO radical, respectively, in consistency with a recent assignment by Kable and co-workers (Lee et al., Chem. Sci. 5, 4633 (2014)). The H-roaming pathway disappears at the CO(v 2) states, because of insufficient available energy following bond-breaking of H + CH3CO. By analyzing the CH4 emission spectrum, we obtained a bimodal vibrational distribution; the low-energy component is ascribed to the transition state (TS) pathway, consistent with prediction by quasiclassical trajectory calculations, while the high-energy component results from H- and CH3-roamings. A branching fraction of H-roaming/CH3-roaming/TS contribution is evaluated to be (8% ± 3%)/(68% ± 10%)/(25% ± 5%), in which the TS pathway was observed for the first time. The three pathways proceed concomitantly along the electronic ground state surface. © 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.
Tsai, P-Y, Li H-K, Kasai T, Lin K-C.  2015.  Roaming as the dominant mechanism for molecular products in the photodissociation of large aliphatic aldehydes. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. 17:23112-23120., Number 35 AbstractWebsite

Photodissociation of isobutyraldehyde (C3H7CHO) at 248 nm is investigated using time-resolved Fourier-transform infrared emission spectroscopy to demonstrate the growing importance of the roaming pathway with increasing molecular size of aliphatic aldehydes. Each acquired CO rotational distribution from v = 1 to 4 is well characterized by a single Boltzmann rotational temperature from 637 to 750 K, corresponding to an average rotational energy of 5.9 ± 0.6 kJ mol-1. The roaming signature that shows a small fraction of CO rotational energy disposal accompanied by a vibrationally hot C3H8 co-fragment is supported by theoretical prediction. The energy difference between the tight transition state (TS) and the roaming saddle point (SP) is found to be -27, 4, 15, 22, and 30 kJ mol-1 for formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, propionaldehyde, isobutyraldehyde, and 2,2-dimethyl propanal, respectively. The roaming SP is stabilized by a larger alkyl moiety. It is suggested that the roaming photodissociation rate of aldehydes increasingly exceeds those via the tight TS, resulting in the dominance of the CO + alkane products, as the size of aldehydes becomes larger. Along with formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and propionaldehyde, in this work isobutyraldehyde is further demonstrated that this aldehyde family with special functional group is the first case in the organic compound to follow predominantly a roaming dissociation pathway, as the molecular size becomes larger. © the Owner Societies 2015.
Lin, K-C, Hung K-C, Tsai P-Y, Li H-K.  2014.  Photodissociation of CH3CHO at 248 nm by time-resolved Fourier-transform infrared emission spectroscopy: Verification of roaming and triple fragmentation. Journal of Chemical Physics. 140, Number 6 AbstractWebsite

By using time-resolved Fourier-transform infrared emission spectroscopy, the HCO fragment dissociated from acetaldehyde (CH3CHO) at 248 nm is found to partially decompose to H and CO. The fragment yields are enhanced by the Ar addition that facilitates the collision-induced internal conversion. The channels to CH2CO + H2 and CH3CO + H are not detected significantly. The rotational population distribution of CO, after removing the Ar collision effect, shows a bimodal feature comprising both low- and high-rotational (J) components, sharing a fraction of 19% and 81%, respectively, for the vibrational state v = 1. The low-J component is ascribed to both roaming pathway and triple fragmentation. They are determined to have a branching ratio of <0.13 and >0.06, respectively, relative to the whole v = 1 population. The CO roaming is accompanied by a highly vibrational population of CH4 that yields a vibrational bimodality. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.
Tsai, P-Y, Hung K-C, Li H-K, Lin K-C.  2014.  Photodissociation of propionaldehyde at 248 nm: Roaming pathway as an increasingly important role in large aliphatic aldehydes. Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. 5:190-195., Number 1 AbstractWebsite

Time-resolved Fourier transform infrared emission spectroscopy is employed in the photolysis of propionaldehyde (CH3CH2CHO) at 248 nm to characterize the role of the roaming pathway. High-resolution spectra of CO are analyzed to yield a single Boltzmann rotational distribution for each vibrational level (ν = 1-4) with small rotational and large vibrational energy disposals. A roaming saddle point is found containing two far separated moieties of HCO and CH3CH2 with a weak interaction between them. Quasiclassical trajectory calculations on this configuration yield the CO energy flow behavior, consistent with the findings. The rate constant along the roaming pathway is evaluated to be larger by >1-2 orders of magnitude than those along tight transition state or three-body dissociation pathways. This work implies that the roaming mechanism plays an increasingly important role in aliphatic aldehydes as the molecular size becomes larger. © 2013 American Chemical Society.