Mechanistic variances in NO release: ortho vs. meta isomers of nitrophenol and nitroaniline.

The NO release following 266 nm photolysis of ortho and meta isomers of nitrophenol and nitroaniline shows a bimodal translational energy distribution, wherein the slow and fast components originate from dynamics in the S0 and T1 states, respectively. The translational energy distribution profiles for any NO product state show a higher slow-to-fast (s/f) branching ratio for the ortho isomer in comparison with the meta isomer. The observed variation in the s/f branching ratio vis-à-vis the ortho and meta isomers is attributed to the presence of intramolecular hydrogen bonding between the ortho substituent and NO2 moiety, which favours the roaming mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]