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Highly reactive benzyl radicals are generated by electron dissociative attachment to benzyl chloride doped into a neon–hydrogen–helium discharge and immediately cooled to T rot = 15 K in a high density, supersonic slit expansion environment. The sub-Doppler spectra are fit to an asymmetric-top rotational Hamiltonian, thereby yielding spectroscopic constants for the ground ( v = 0) and first excited ( v = 1, ν 3 , ν 4 ) vibrational levels of the ground electronic state. The rotational constants obtained for the ground state are in good agreement with previous laser induced fluorescence measurements (LIF), with vibrational band origins ( ν 3 = 3073.2350 ± 0.0006 cm −1 , ν 4 = 3067.0576 ± 0.0006 cm −1 ) in agreement with anharmonically corrected density functional theory calculations. To assist in detection of benzyl radical in the interstellar medium, we have also significantly improved the precision of the ground state rotational constants through combined analysis of the ground state IR and LIF combination differences. Of dynamical interest, there is no evidence in the sub-Doppler spectra for tunneling splittings due to internal rotation of the CH 2 methylene subunit, which implies a significant rotational barrier consistent with partial double bond character in the CC bond. This is further confirmed with high level ab initio calculations at the CCSD(T)-f12b/ccpVdZ-f12 level, which predict a zero-point energy corrected barrier to internal rotation of Δ E tun ≈ 11.45 kcal mol −1 or 4005 cm −1 . In summary, the high-resolution infrared spectra are in excellent agreement with simple physical organic chemistry pictures of a strongly resonance-stabilized benzyl radical with a nearly rigid planar structure due to electron delocalization around the aromatic ring.
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A combined experimental and computational study on the transition of the calcium isopropoxide radical as a candidate for direct laser cooling
Vibronically resolved laser-induced fluorescence/dispersed fluorescence (LIF/DF) and cavity ring-down (CRD) spectra of the electronic transition of the calcium isopropoxide [CaOCH(CH 3 ) 2 ] radical have been obtained under jet-cooled conditions. An essentially constant energy separation of 68 cm −1 has been observed for the vibrational ground levels and all fundamental vibrational levels accessed in the LIF measurement. To simulate the experimental spectra and assign the recorded vibronic bands, Franck–Condon (FC) factors and vibrational branching ratios (VBRs) are predicted from vibrational modes and their frequencies calculated using the complete-active-space self-consistent field (CASSCF) and equation-of-motion coupled-cluster singles and doubles (EOM-CCSD) methods. Combined with the calculated electronic transition energy, the computational results, especially those from the EOM-CCSD calculations, reproduced the experimental spectra with considerable accuracy. The experimental and computational results suggest that the FC matrix for the studied electronic transition is largely diagonal, but transitions from the vibrationless levels of the à state to the X̃-state levels of the CCC bending ( ν 14 and ν 15 ), CaO stretch ( ν 13 ), and CaOC asymmetric stretch ( ν 9 and ν 11 ) modes also have considerable intensities. Transitions to low-frequency in-plane [ ν 17 ( a ′)] and out-of-plane [ ν 30 ( a ′′)] CaOC bending modes were observed in the experimental LIF/DF spectra, the latter being FC-forbidden but induced by the pseudo-Jahn–Teller (pJT) effect. Both bending modes are coupled to the CaOC asymmetric stretch mode via the Duschinsky rotation, as demonstrated in the DF spectra obtained by pumping non-origin vibronic transitions. The pJT interaction also induces transitions to the ground-state vibrational level of the ν 10 ( a ′) mode, which has the CaOC bending character. Our combined experimental and computational results provide critical information for future direct laser cooling of the target molecule and other alkaline earth monoalkoxide radicals.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1955310
- PAR ID:
- 10353095
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
- Volume:
- 24
- Issue:
- 15
- ISSN:
- 1463-9076
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 8749 to 8762
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1039/D1CP04107J
