Photolysis Dynamics Laser Chemistry Lab

Electrostatic hexapoles are revealed as a powerful tool in the rotational state-selection and alignment of molecules to be utilized in beam experiments on collisional and photoinitiated processes. In the paper, we report results on the application of the hexapolar technique on the recently studied chiral molecules propylene oxide, 2-butanol and 2-bromobutane, to be investigated in selective photodissociation and enantiomeric discrimination. © 2016 Author(s).

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.

Competitive bond dissociation mechanisms for bromoacetyl chloride and 2- and 3-bromopropionyl chloride following the 1[n(O) →π*(Cï£O)] transition at 234-235 nm are investigated. Branching ratios for C-Br/C-Cl bond fission are found by using the (2+1) resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) technique coupled with velocity ion imaging. The fragment branching ratios depend mainly on the dissociation pathways and the distances between the orbitals of Br and the Cï£O chromophore. C-Cl bond fission is anticipated to follow an adiabatic potential surface for a strong diabatic coupling between the n(O)π*(Cï£O) and np(Cl)σ*(C-Cl) bands. In contrast, C-Br bond fission is subject to much weaker coupling between n(O)π*(Cï£O) and np(Br)σ*(C-Br). Thus, a diabatic pathway is preferred for bromoacetyl chloride and 2-bromopropionyl chloride, which leads to excited-state products. For 3-bromopropionyl chloride, the available energy is not high enough to reach the excited-state products such that C-Br bond fission must proceed through an adiabatic pathway with severe suppression by nonadiabatic coupling. The fragment translational energies and anisotropy parameters for the three molecules are also analyzed and appropriately interpreted. Busted open: Insight into the mechanisms causing C-Cl and C-Br bond fission of bromoacetyl chloride and 2- and 3-bromopropionyl chloride by following the 1[n(O) →π*(Cï£O)] transition is obtained. The figure shows the center-of-mass translational energy distributions of ground-state Br formation through a diabatic pathway for the dissociation of 2-bromopropionyl chloride. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

A primary elimination channel of the chlorine molecule in the one-photon dissociation of SOCl2 at 248 nm was investigated using cavity ring-down absorption spectroscopy (CRDS). By means of spectral simulation, the ratio of the vibrational population in the v = 0, 1, and 2 levels was evaluated to be 1:(0.10 ± 0.02):(0.009 ± 0.005), corresponding to a Boltzmann vibrational temperature of 340 ± 30 K. The Cl2 molecular channel was obtained with a quantum yield of 0.4 ± 0.2 from the X1A′ ground state of SOCl2via internal conversion. The dissociation mechanism differs from a prior study where a smaller yield of <3% was obtained, initiated from the 21A′ excited state. Temperature-dependence measurements of the Cl2 fragment turn out to support our mechanism. With the aid of ab initio potential energy calculations, two dissociation routes to the molecular products were found, including one synchronous dissociation pathway via a three-center transition state (TS) and the other sequential dissociation pathway via a roaming-mediated isomerization TS. The latter mechanism with a lower energy barrier dominates the dissociation reaction. This journal is © the Owner Societies.

The exploration of alternative roads that open to molecules with sufficient energy to yield different products permits prediction and eventually control of the outcomes of chemical reactions. Advanced imaging techniques for monitoring laser-induced photodissociation are here combined with dynamical simulations, involving ample sets of classical trajectories generated on a quantum chemical potential energy surface. Methyl formate, HCOOCH3, is photodissociated at energies near the triple fragmentation threshold into H, CO and OCH3. Images of velocity and rotational distributions of CO exhibit signatures of alternative routes, such as those recently designated as transition-state vs. roaming-mediated. Furthermore, a demonstration of the triple fragmentation route is given, and also confirmed by H-atom product imaging and FTIR time-resolved spectra of the intermediate HCO radical. In addition, the relevance of nonadiabatic transitions promoted by a conical intersection is clarified by simulations as the privileged "reactivity funnel" of organic photochemistry, whereby the outcomes of molecular photoexcitation are delivered to electronic ground states. This journal is © the Owner Societies 2014.

Molecular orientation is a fundamental requisite in the study of stereodirected dynamics of collisional and photoinitiated processes. In this past decade, variable hexapolar electric filters have been developed and employed for the rotational-state selection and the alignment of molecules of increasing complexity, for which the main difficulties are their mass, their low symmetry, and the very dense rotational manifold. In this work, for the first time, a complex molecule such as 2-bromobutane, an asymmetric top containing a heavy atom (the bromine), was successfully oriented by a weak homogeneous field placed downstream from the hexapolar filter. Efficiency of the orientation was characterized experimentally, by combining time-of-flight measurements and a slice-ion-imaging detection technique. The application is described to the photodissociation dynamics of the oriented 2-bromobutane, which was carried out at a laser wavelength of 234 nm, corresponding to the breaking of the C-Br bond. The Br photofragment is produced in both the ground Br (2P3/2) and the excited Br (2P1/2) electronic states, and both channels are studied by the slice imaging technique, revealing new features in the velocity and angular distributions with respect to previous investigations on nonoriented molecules. © 2016 American Chemical Society.

In one-photon dissociation of propionyl chloride at 248 nm, time-resolved Fourier-transform infrared emission spectroscopy is used to detect the fragments of HCl and CO in the presence of Ar. The inert gas Ar plays a role to enhance the internal conversion. The time-dependence of high-resolution HCl spectra yields a bimodal rotational distribution in the early stage. The total rotational and vibrational energy partitioned in HCl are evaluated to be 1.7 ± 0.3 and 8.8 ± 1.9 kcal/mol, respectively. The CO appearance indicates that HCl may be eliminated through a five-center mechanism accompanied with three-body dissociation of C2H2, HCl, and CO. A four-center mechanism forming HCl and CH3CHCO also contributes to the HCl fragment with a feature of rotational bimodality. However, the probability for the HCl contribution from the hot Cl reaction is negligible. The reaction with CH4 is carried out to evaluate the HCl and Cl elimination rate constants. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Electron transfer (ET) kinetics of CdSe/ZnS core/shell quantum dots (QDs) on bare coverslips and a TiO 2 nanoparticle-coated thin film has been investigated at the single-molecule level. The QDs prepared have three different diameters of 3.6, 4.6, and 6.4 nm. The trajectories of fluorescence intensity are acquired with respect to the arrival time. The on-time events and subsequent fluorescence lifetimes are shorter with decreasing size. Given the lifetime measurements for QDs on glass and TiO 2, the rate constant of ET from QDs to TiO 2 may be determined to be 1.3×10 7, 6.0×10 6, and 4.7×10 6 s -1 for the increasing sizes of the QDs. The plot of on-time probability density versus arrival time is characterized by power-law statistics in the short time region and a bending tail in the long time region. Marcus's ET model is employed to satisfactorily fit the bending tail behavior and to further calculate the ET rate constants. The theoretical counterparts for the different sizes are 1.4×10 7, 6.4×10 6, and 1.9×10 6 s -1, showing good agreement with the experimental results. Going dotty: Electron transfer kinetics of CdSe/ZnS core/shell quantum dots (QDs) on bare coverslips and on TiO 2 nanoparticle coated thin films have been investigated at the single-molecule level. As the size of the QDs changes, the shift in the valence band (VB) energy is less significant than the shift in the conduction band (CB) energy. Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Ion imaging coupled with (2 + 1) resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) technique is employed to probe CO(v″ = 0) fragments at different rotational levels following photodissociation of methyl formate (HCOOCH 3) at 234 nm. When the rotational level, J″CO, is larger than 24, only a broad translational energy distribution extending beyond 70 kcal mol-1 with an average energy of about 23 kcal mol -1 appears. The dissociation process is initiated on the energetic ground state HCOOCH3 that surpasses a tight transition state along the reaction coordinate prior to breaking into CO + CH3OH. This molecular dissociation pathway accounts for the CO fragment with larger rotational energy and large translational energy. As J″CO decreases, a bimodal distribution arises with one broad component and the other sharp component carrying the average energy of only 1-2 kcal mol-1. The branching ratio of the sharp component increases with a decrease of J″CO; (7.3 ± 0.6)% is reached as the image is probed at J″CO = 10. The production of a sharp component is ascribed to a roaming mechanism that has the following features: a small total translational energy, a low rotational energy partitioning in CO, but a large internal energy in the CH3OH co-product. The internal energy deposition in the fragments shows distinct difference from those via the conventional transition state. © the Owner Societies 2011.

By employing time-resolved Fourier transform infrared emission spectroscopy, the fragments HCl (v=1-3), HBr (v=1), and CO (v=1-3) are detected in one-photon dissociation of 2-bromopropionyl chloride (CH3CHBrCOCl) at 248 nm. Ar gas is added to induce internal conversion and to enhance the fragment yields. The time-resolved high-resolution spectra of HCl and CO were analyzed to determine the rovibrational energy deposition of 10.0A ±0.2 and 7.4A ±0.6 kcal mol-1, respectively, while the rotational energy in HBr is evaluated to be 0.9A ±0.1 kcal mol-1. The branching ratio of HCl(v>0)/HBr(v>0) is estimated to be 1:0.53. The bond selectivity of halide formation in the photolysis follows the same trend as the halogen atom elimination. The probability of HCl contribution from a hot Cl reaction with the precursor is negligible according to the measurements of HCl amount by adding an active reagent, Br2, in the system. The HCl elimination channel under Ar addition is verified to be slower by two orders of magnitude than the Cl elimination channel. With the aid of ab initio calculations, the observed fragments are dissociated from the hot ground state CH3CHBrCOCl. A two-body dissociation channel is favored leading to either HCl+CH3CBrCO or HBr+CH2CHCOCl, in which the CH 3CBrCO moiety may further undergo secondary dissociation to release CO. © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

The primary elimination channel of bromine molecule in one-photon dissociation of CH2BrC(O)Br at 248 nm is investigated using cavity ring-down absorption spectroscopy. By means of spectral simulation, the ratio of nascent vibrational population in v 0, 1, and 2 levels is evaluated to be 1:(0.5 ± 0.1):(0.2 ± 0.1), corresponding to a Boltzmann vibrational temperature of 581 ± 45 K. The quantum yield of the ground state Br2 elimination reaction is determined to be 0.24 ± 0.08. With the aid of ab initio potential energy calculations, the obtained Br2 fragments are anticipated to dissociate on the electronic ground state, yielding vibrationally hot Br2 products. The temperature-dependence measurements support the proposed pathway via internal conversion. For comparison, the Br2 yields are obtained analogously from CH3CHBrC(O)Br and (CH3)2CBrC(O)Br to be 0.03 and 0.06, respectively. The trend of Br2 yields among the three compounds is consistent with the branching ratio evaluation by Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus method. However, the latter result for each molecule is smaller by an order of magnitude than the yield findings. A non-statistical pathway so-called roaming process might be an alternative to the Br2 production, and its contribution might account for the underestimate of the branching ratio calculations. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.