Kota Daigoku

Hydrogen transfer in photo-excited phenol'ammonia clusters by UV-IR-UV ion dip spectroscopy and ab initio molecular orbital calculations. II. Vibrational transitions

The electronic spectra of reaction products via photoexcited phenol/ammonia clusters (1:2–5) have been measured by UV-near-IR–UV ion dip spectroscopy. Compared with the electronic spectra of hydrogenated ammonia cluster radicals the reaction products have been proven to be (NH3)n−1NH4 (n=2–5), which are generated by excited-state hydrogen transfer in PhOH–(NH3)n. By comparing the experimental results with ab initio molecular orbital calculations at multireference single and double excitation configuration interaction level, it has been found that the reaction products (NH3)n−1NH4 (for n=3 and 4), contain some isomers.

Photochemistry of phenol–(NH3)n clusters: Solvent effect on a radical cleavage of an OH bond in an electronically excited state and intracluster reactions in the product NH4(NH3)n−1 (n⩽5)

The potential energy surfaces of PhOH–(NH3)0,1 and NH4(NH3)1–4 have been investigated theoretically by ab initio methods. Intermolecular stretching in PhOH–NH3 assists in the radical cleavage of an OH bond occurring through a ππ*/πσ* potential crossing. Thus, excited state hydrogen transfer (ESHT) is expected to take place by a solvent-assisted mechanism even in the larger PhOH–(NH3)n. Because sufficient energy is obtained by ESHT from PhOH–(NH3)n (ππ*) to PhO–NH4(NH3)n−1 (πσ*) (n⩽5), hydrogen relocation and/or ammonia migration in the product NH4(NH3)n−1 can readily follow ESHT, which is responsible for observing isomer bands in the absorption spectra of the photoinduced reaction products of PhOH–(NH3)n.

Electronically Excited States of Sodium-Water-Clusters

The lowest electronically excited state of small Na(H2O)n clusters has been investigated experimentally and theoretically. The excitation energy as determined by the depletion spectroscopy method drops from 16 950 cm−1 for the sodium atom down to 9670 cm−1 when only three water molecules are attached to the Na atom. For larger clusters the absorption band shifts back towards higher energies and reaches 10 880 cm−1 for n=12. The experimental data are compared to quantum-chemical calculations at the Moeller–Plesset second-order perturbation and multireference single and double excitation configuration interaction levels. We found that the observed size dependence of the transition energy is well reproduced by the interior structure where the sodium atom is surrounded by water molecules. The analysis of the radial charge distribution of the unpaired electron in these interior structures gives a new insight into the formation of the “solvated” electron.

Picosecond time-resolved infrared spectra of photo-excited phenol–(NH3)3 cluster

Abstract Picosecond time-resolved IR spectra of phenol–(NH3)3 have been measured by UV–IR–UV ion dip spectroscopy for the first time. It was found that the time-evolution of two vibrational bands at 3180 and 3250 cm −1 is different from each other. The results show that two transient species are generated from the photo-excited phenol–(NH3)3 cluster. From ab initio calculation, the transient species are assigned to two isomers of (NH3)2NH4.

Hydrogen transfer dynamics in a photoexcited phenol/ammonia (1:3) cluster studied by picosecond time-resolved UV-IR-UV ion dip spectroscopy

The picosecond time-resolved IR spectra of phenol/ammonia (1:3) cluster were measured by UV-IR-UV ion dip spectroscopy. The time-resolved IR spectra of the reaction products of the excited state hydrogen transfer were observed. From the different time evolution of two vibrational bands at 3180 and 3250 cm(-1), it was found that two isomers of hydrogenated ammonia radical cluster .NH(4)(NH(3))(2) coexist in the reaction products. The time evolution was also measured in the near-IR region, which corresponds to 3p-3s Rydberg transition of .NH(4)(NH(3))(2); a clear wavelength dependence was found. From the observed results, we concluded that (1) there is a memory effect of the parent cluster, which initially forms a metastable product, .NH(4)-NH(3)-NH(3), and (2) the metastable product isomerizes successively to the most stable product, NH(3)-.NH(4)-NH(3). The time constant for OH cleaving, the isomerization, and its back reaction were determined by rate-equation analysis to be 24, 6, and 9 ps, respectively.

Four-color hole burning spectra of phenol/ammonia 1:3 and 1:4 clusters.

The hole burning spectra of phenol/ammonia (1:3 and 1:4) clusters were measured by a newly developed four-color (UV-near-IR-UV-UV) hole burning spectroscopy, which is a kind of population labeling spectroscopy. From the hole burning spectra, it was found that single species is observed in an n = 3 cluster, while three isomers are observed simultaneously for n = 4. A possibility was suggested that the reaction efficiency of the hydrogen transfer from the electronically excited phenol/ammonia clusters, which was measured by a comparison with the action spectra of the corresponding cluster, depends on the initial vibronic levels.

Electronic states of NH4(NH3)n(n=0–4) cluster radicals

Abstract We have investigated geometries, ionization potentials (IPs), and vertical transition energies (VTEs) of NH 4 ( NH 3 ) n (n=0–4) cluster radicals by ab initio MO method at the correlated level. The structures in which NH 4 donates as many NH bonds as possible to the hydrogen bonding with surrounding NH 3 molecules are the most stable for each n . The calculated IPs agree well with experiment. The spatial expansion of the unpaired electron occurs with stepwise solvation. The growing one-center Rydberg-like nature of the cluster radicals results in the successive decrease in the transition energies to the low-lying excited states, which is responsible for the red shifts of the electronic absorption bands.

Theoretical study of [Na(NH3)n]− (n=1–4)

In connection with the recent photoelectron spectroscopy of negatively charged Na atom in ammonia clusters, the geometries, electronic state, vertical detachment energies, and harmonic frequencies of [Na(NH3)n]− (n=1–4) have been studied by the ab initio MO method. Structures having as many Na–N bonds as possible becomes more stable than other isomers as n grows. The Na 3s electrons are widely spread and delocalized in space outside the [Na(NH3)n]+ core for n⩾2. The dramatic redshifts of the photoelectron band for the 32P-type transition with increasing n reflect the electronic change from an atomic state to one-center Rydberg-type states in the neutrals. The frequencies of the combined vibrations of the NH3 ν1 mode are nearly degenerate and are expected to coalesce into only one strong IR band in the NH stretch region irrespective of n.

Formation and localization of a solvated electron in ground and low-lying excited states of Li(NH3)n and Li(H2O)n clusters: a comparison with Na(NH3)n and Na(H2O)n.

A theoretical study of the ground and low-lying excited states of Li(NH(3))(n) and Li(H(2)O)(n) (n = 1-8) clusters is presented. Their structures, binding energies, vertical ionization energies and vertical transition energies were calculated using ab initio molecular orbital methods at correlated levels. Compared with Na(NH(3))(n) and Na(H(2)O)(n), the incremental binding energies and the spectroscopic energies are found to be almost metal-independent, but solvent-dependent after first-shell closure in both M(NH(3))(n) and M(H(2)O)(n) (M = Li and Na) clusters(.) Autoionization of the alkali atoms occurs via a spatial expansion of unpaired electron distribution extending to outside of the first solvation-shell, irrespective of the combinations of the metal and the solvent. The localization mode of the wave function of the solvated electron was investigated in both the ground and excited states. A change from a one-center diffuse state to a two-center localized state proceeds more quickly against n in M(H(2)O)(n) than in M(NH(3))(n), which is behind the solvent-dependence of the evaluated quantities.

Electron–Proton Decoupling in Excited‐State Hydrogen Atom Transfer in the Gas Phase

Hydrogen-release by photoexcitation, excited-state-hydrogen-transfer (ESHT), is one of the important photochemical processes that occur in aromatic acids and is responsible for photoprotection of biomolecules. The mechanism is described by conversion of the initial state to a charge-separated state along the O(N)-H bond elongation, leading to dissociation. Thus ESHT is not a simple H-atom transfer in which a proton and a 1s electron move together. Here we show that the electron-transfer and the proton-motion are decoupled in gas-phase ESHT. We monitor electron and proton transfer independently by picosecond time-resolved near-infrared and infrared spectroscopy for isolated phenol-(ammonia)5 , a benchmark molecular cluster. Electron transfer from phenol to ammonia occurred in less than 3 picoseconds, while the overall H-atom transfer took 15 picoseconds. The observed electron-proton decoupling will allow for a deeper understanding and control of of photochemistry in biomolecules.