Multiphoton Ionization of Nitrobenzene in Non-Aqueous Solutions: Characterization of the Cation and Ion-Molecule Chemistry

G Siuzdak,J J Belbruno

doi:10.1155/lc.11.83

Abstract

The phenoxy cation has been generated in polar and nonpolar solutions by multiphoton ionization of nitrobenzene using nanosecond pulses of 266 nm and 355 nm light. The ions have been characterized by pulsed conductivity (ion mobility) measurements and transient absorption spectroscopy. The involvement of the phenoxy ion in ion-molecule chemistry with either neutral solute or solvent molecules has also been observed and the photochemical products and quantum yields of the ion-molecule products are presented and compared with the neutral photochemistry results.

Highlights

Considerable research effort has been concentrated on determining the effects of ionizing radiation on organic solutions. The goal of this type of research is to characterize the entire reaction mechanism, i.e. the conversion of particle or photon energy into internal energy of solute or solvent, but the experimental studies tend to be most concerned with the transient species created by the initial interaction of ionizing radiation and particle
The gas phase studies suggest that these same techniques would be useful in liquid phase ion-molecule chemistry, the use of Author to whome correspondence should be addressed
It has been shown that multiphoton ionization/dissociation may be readily employed to generate cations in solution and that these cations may be used as reagents in ion-molecule chemistry

Summary

Introduction

Considerable research effort has been concentrated on determining the effects of ionizing radiation on organic solutions. We present evidence of the ion-molecule nature of the reaction initiated by MPI by reporting additional photopumping and pulsed conductivity data as well as real-time observations of the cation involved in the reaction.

Results

Conclusion