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The dynamics of photoexcited 2,4-dimethylpyrrole (DMP) were studied using time-resolved velocity map imaging spectroscopy over a range of photoexcitation wavelengths (276-238 nm). Two dominant H atom elimination channels were inferred from the time-resolved total kinetic energy release spectra, one which occurs with a time constant of ∼120 fs producing H atoms with high kinetic energies centered around 5000-7000 cm(-1) and a second channel with a time constant of ∼3.5 ps producing H atoms with low kinetic energies centered around 2500-3000 cm(-1). The first of these channels is attributed to direct excitation from the ground electronic state (S0) to the dissociative 1(1)πσ* state (S1) and subsequent N-H bond fission, moderated by a reaction barrier in the N-H stretch coordinate. In contrast to analogous measurements in pyrrole (Roberts et al. Faraday Discuss. 2013, 163, 95-116), the N-H dissociation times are invariant with photoexcitation wavelength, implying a relatively flatter potential in the vertical Franck-Condon region of the 1(1)πσ* state of DMP. The origins of the second channel are less clear-cut, but given the picosecond time constant for this process, we posit that this channel is indirect and is likely a consequence of populating higher-lying electronic states [e.g., 2(1)πσ* (S2)] which, following vibronic coupling into lower-lying intermediary states (namely, S1 or S0), leads to prompt N-H bond fission.

We report a combined experimental (H (Rydberg) atom photofragment translational spectroscopy) and theoretical (ab initio electronic structure and vibronic coupling calculations) study of the effects of symmetry on the photodissociation dynamics of phenols. Ultraviolet photoexcitation to the bound S1((1)ππ*) state of many phenols leads to some O-H bond fission by tunneling through the barrier under the conical intersection (CI) between the S1 and dissociative S2((1)πσ*) potential energy surfaces in the R(O-H) stretch coordinate. Careful analysis of the total kinetic energy release spectra of the resulting products shows that the radicals formed following S1 ← S0 excitation of phenol and symmetrically substituted phenols like 4-fluorophenol all carry an odd number of quanta in vibrational mode ν(16a), whereas those deriving from asymmetrically substituted systems like 3-fluorophenol or 4-methoxyphenol do not. This contrasting behavior can be traced back to symmetry. Symmetrically substituted phenols exist in two equivalent rotamers, which interconvert by tunneling through the barrier to OH torsional motion. Their states are thus best considered in the non-rigid G4 molecular symmetry group, wherein radiationless transfer from the S1 to S2 state requires a coupling mode of a2 symmetry. Of the three a2 symmetry parent modes, the out-of-plane ring puckering mode ν(16a) shows much the largest interstate coupling constant in the vicinity of the S1/S2 CI. The nuclear motions associated with ν(16a) are orthogonal to the dissociation coordinate, and are thus retained in the radical products. Introducing asymmetry (even a non-linear substituent in the 4-position) lifts the degeneracy of the rotamers, and lowers the molecular symmetry to Cs. Many more parent motions satisfy the reduced (a'') symmetry requirement to enable S1/S2 coupling, the most effective of which is OH torsion. This motion 'disappears' on O-H bond fission; symmetry thus imposes no restriction to forming radical products with vibrational quantum number v = 0. The present work yields values for the O-H bond strengths in 3-FPhOH and 4-MeOPhOH, and recommends modest revisions to the previously reported O-H bond strengths in other asymmetrically substituted phenols like 3- and 2-methylphenol and 4-hydroxyindole.

This article reports the striking interplay between the molecular structure and the photodissociation dynamics of catechol (a key dihydroxybenzene), identified using a combination of electronic spectroscopy, hydrogen (Rydberg) atom photofragment translational spectroscopy, density functional theory and second order approximate coupled cluster methods. We describe how the non-planar (C(1) symmetry) ← planar (C(s) symmetry) geometry change during S(1) (1(1)ππ*) ←S(0) excitation in catechol, as well as the presence of internal hydrogen bonding, can perturb the photodissociation dynamics relative to that of phenol (a monohydroxybenzene), particularly with respect to O-H bond fission via the lowest dissociative (1)πσ* state. For λ(phot) > 270 nm, O-H bond fission (of the non hydrogen bonded hydroxyl moiety) is deduced to proceed via H atom tunnelling from the photo-prepared 1(1)ππ* state into the lowest (1)πσ* state of the molecule. The vibrational energy distribution in the resulting catechoxyl product changes notably as λ(phot) is tuned on resonance with either the v' = 0, m(2)' = 1(+) or m(2)' = 2(+) torsional levels of the photo-prepared 1(1)ππ* state: the product state distribution is highly sensitive to the degree of OH torsional excitation (m(2)) prepared during photo-excitation. It is deduced that such torsional excitation can be redistributed very efficiently into ring puckering (and likely also in-plane ring stretch) vibrations as the molecule tunnels to its repulsive 1(1)πσ* state and dissociates. These observations can be rationalised by consideration of the photo-prepared nuclear wavefunctions. Analysis of the product vibrational energy distribution also reveals that the O-H bond strength of the non hydrogen bonded O-H moiety in catechol, D(0)(H-catechoxyl) ≤ 27 480 ± 50 cm(-1), ∼2500 cm(-1) lower than that of the sole O-H bond in bare phenol. As a consequence, the vertical excitation energy of the 1(1)πσ* state in catechol is reduced relative to that in phenol, yielding a particularly broad distribution of product vibrations for λ(phot) < 270 nm. This study highlights the interplay between molecular geometry and redistribution of vibrational energy during ultraviolet photolysis of phenols.

This article reports a comprehensive study of the mechanisms of H atom loss in aniline (C(6)H(5)NH(2)) following ultraviolet excitation, using H (Rydberg) atom photofragment translational spectroscopy. N-H bond fission via the low lying (1)pi sigma(*) electronic state of aniline is experimentally demonstrated. The (1)pi sigma(*) potential energy surface (PES) of this prototypical aromatic amine is essentially repulsive along the N-H stretch coordinate, but possesses a shallow potential well in the vertical Franck-Condon region, supporting quasibound vibrational levels. Photoexcitation at wavelengths (lambda(phot)) in the range 293.859 nm > or = lambda(phot) > or = 193.3 nm yields H atom loss via a range of mechanisms. With lambda(phot) resonant with the 1(1)pi pi(*) <-- S(0) origin (293.859 nm), H atom loss proceeds via, predominantly, multiphoton excitation processes, resonantly enhanced at the one photon energy by the first (1)pi pi(*) excited state (the 1(1)pi pi(*) state). Direct excitation to the first few quasibound vibrational levels of the (1)pi sigma(*) state (at wavelengths in the range 269.513 nm > or = lambda(phot) > or = 260 nm) induces N-H bond fission via H atom tunneling through an exit barrier into the repulsive region of the (1)pi sigma(*) PES, forming anilino (C(6)H(5)NH) radical products in their ground electronic state, and with very limited vibrational excitation; the photo-prepared vibrational mode in the (1)pi sigma(*) state generally evolves adiabatically into the corresponding mode of the anilino radical upon dissociation. However, as the excitation wavelength is reduced (lambda(phot) < 260 nm), N-H bond fission yields fragments with substantially greater vibrational excitation, rationalized in terms of direct excitation to 1(1)pi pi(*) levels, followed by coupling to the (1)pi sigma(*) PES via a 1(1)pi pi(*)/(1)pi sigma(*) conical intersection. Changes in product kinetic energy disposal once lambda(phot) approaches approximately 230 nm likely indicate that the photodissociation pathways of aniline proceed via direct excitation to the (higher) 2(1)pi pi(*) state. Analysis of the anilino fragment vibrational energy disposal-and thus the concomitant dynamics of (1)pi sigma(*) state mediated photodissociation-provides a particularly interesting study of competing sigma(*) <-- pi and pi(*) <-- pi absorption processes and develops our appreciation of the photochemistry of aromatic amines. It also allows revealing comparisons with simple amines (such as ammonia and methylamine) as well as the isoelectronic species, phenol. This study yields a value for the N-H bond strength in aniline, D(0)(H-anilino) = 31630+/-40 cm(-1).

Accurate potential energy surface calculations are presented for many of the key steps involved in diamond chemical vapor deposition on the [100] surface (in its 2 x 1 reconstructed and hydrogenated form). The growing diamond surface was described by using a large (approximately 1500 atoms) cluster model, with the key atoms involved in chemical steps being described by using a quantum mechanical (QM, density functional theory, DFT) method and the bulk of the atoms being described by molecular mechanics (MM). The resulting hybrid QM/MM calculations are more systematic and/or at a higher level of theory than previous work on this growth process. The dominant process for carbon addition, in the form of methyl radicals, is predicted to be addition to a surface radical site, opening of the adjacent C-C dimer bond, insertion, and ultimate ring closure. Other steps such as insertion across the trough between rows of dimer bonds or addition to a neighboring dimer leading to formation of a reconstruction on the next layer may also contribute. Etching of carbon can also occur; the most likely mechanism involves loss of a two-carbon moiety in the form of ethene. The present higher-level calculations confirm that migration of inserted carbon along both dimer rows and chains should be relatively facile, with barriers of approximately 150 kJ mol (-1) when starting from suitable diradical species, and that this step should play an important role in establishing growth of smooth surfaces.

The dynamics of N-methylpyrrole following excitation at wavelengths in the range 241.5-217.0 nm were studied using a combination of time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (TRPES), ab initio quantum dynamics calculations using the multi-layer multi-configurational time-dependent Hartree method, as well as high-level photoionization cross section calculations. Excitation at 241.5 and 236.2 nm results in population of the A2(πσ*) state, in agreement with previous studies. Excitation at 217.0 nm prepares the previously neglected B1(π3py) Rydberg state, followed by prompt internal conversion to the A2(πσ*) state. In contrast with the photoinduced dynamics of pyrrole, the lifetime of the wavepacket in the A2(πσ*) state was found to vary with excitation wavelength, decreasing by one order of magnitude upon tuning from 241.5 nm to 236.2 nm and by more than three orders of magnitude when excited at 217.0 nm. The order of magnitude difference in lifetimes measured at the longer excitation wavelengths is attributed to vibrational excitation in the A2(πσ*) state, facilitating wavepacket motion around the potential barrier in the N-CH3 dissociation coordinate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamics of pyrrole excited at wavelengths in the range 242-217 nm are studied using a combination of time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy and wavepacket propagations performed using the multi-configurational time-dependent Hartree method. Excitation close to the origin of pyrrole's electronic spectrum, at 242 and 236 nm, is found to result in an ultrafast decay of the system from the ionization window on a single timescale of less than 20 fs. This behaviour is explained fully by assuming the system to be excited to the A2(πσ*) state, in accord with previous experimental and theoretical studies. Excitation at shorter wavelengths has previously been assumed to result predominantly in population of the bright A1(ππ*) and B2(ππ*) states. We here present time-resolved photoelectron spectra at a pump wavelength of 217 nm alongside detailed quantum dynamics calculations that, together with a recent reinterpretation of pyrrole's electronic spectrum [S. P. Neville and G. A. Worth, J. Chem. Phys. 140, 034317 (2014)], suggest that population of the B1(πσ*) state (hitherto assumed to be optically dark) may occur directly when pyrrole is excited at energies in the near UV part of its electronic spectrum. The B1(πσ*) state is found to decay on a timescale of less than 20 fs by both N-H dissociation and internal conversion to the A2(πσ*) state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The photodissociations of jet-cooled IBr and Br[sub 2] molecules have been investigated using high resolution ion imaging methods, at excitation energies just above the thresholds for forming, respectively, I(²P[sup o,sub 3/2])+Br(²P[sup o,sub 3/2]) and Br(²P[sup o,sub 3/2])+Br[sup *](²P[sup o,sub ½]) products from parent molecules in their ν' = 0 levels. For such molecules, we observe in both cases, that fragments with larger recoil velocities have markedly reduced angular anisotropy, whereas those from photolysis of IBr molecules with ν' = l show an essentially constant, limiting anisotropy. Given the monochromaticity of the photolysis radiation, increased recoil velocity of fragments resulting from photolysis of ν' = 0 molecules can only be derived from increased parent internal (rotational) energy. The measurements thus provide a particularly clear and direct observation of the breakdown of the axial recoil approximation as applied to the photodissociation of a diatomic molecule, and have been modeled, quantitatively, using both quantum and semiclassical methods together with the best available potential energy curves for the relevant excited states of IBr and Br[sub 2]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solvent collisions can often mask initial disposition of energy to the products of solution-phase chemical reactions. Here, we show with transient infrared absorption spectra obtained with picosecond time resolution that the nascent HCN products of reaction of CN radicals with cyctohexane in chlorinated organic solvents exhibit preferential excitation of one quantum of the C-H stretching mode and up to two quanta of the bending mode. On time scales of approximately 100 to 300 picoseconds, the HCN products undergo relaxation to the vibrational ground state by coupling to the solvent bath. Comparison with reactions of CN radicals with alkanes in the gas phase, known to produce HCN with greater C-H stretch and bending mode excitation (up to two and approximately six quanta, respectively), indicates partial damping of the nascent product vibrational motion by the solvent. The transient infrared spectra therefore probe solvent-induced modifications to the reaction free energy surface and chemical dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]