Role of Torsion-Vibration Coupling in the Overtone Spectrum and Vibrationally Mediated Photochemistry of CH3OOH and HOOH

Abstract

The yield of vibrationally excited OH fragments resulting from the vibrationally mediated photodissociation of methyl hydroperoxide (CH3OOH) excited in the vicinity of its 2νOH and 3νOH stretching overtones is compared with that resulting from excitation of the molecule to states with three quanta in the CH stretches and to the state with two quanta in the OH stretch and one in the OOH bend (2νOH + νOOH). We find that the OH fragment vibrational state distribution depends strongly on the vibrational state of CH3OOH prior to photodissociation. Specifically, dissociation from the CH stretch overtones and the stretch/bend combination band involving the OH stretch and OOH bend produced significantly less vibrationally excited OH fragments compared to that produced following excitation of CH3OOH to an overtone in the OH stretch. While the absence of vibrationally excited OH photoproducts following excitation of the CH overtone is not surprising, the lack of vibrationally excited OH following excitation to the 2νOH+νOOH combination band is unexpected given that photodissociation following excitation to the lower-energy 2νOH state produces OH products in v = 1 as well as in its ground state. This trend persists even when the electronic photodissociation wavelength is changed from 532 to 355 nm and thus suggests that the observed disparity arises from differences in the nature of the initially populated vibrational states. This lack of vibrationally excited OH products likely reflects the enhanced intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution associated with the stretch/bend combination level compared to the pure OH stretch overtone. Consistent with this hypothesis, photodissociation from the stretch/bend combination level of the smaller HOOH molecule produces more vibrationally excited OH fragments compared to that resulting from the corresponding state of CH3OOH. These results are investigated using second-order vibrational perturbation theory based on an internal coordinate representation of the normal modes. Consistent with the observations, the first-order correction to the wave function shows stronger coupling of the 2νOH+νOOH state to states with torsion excitation compared to the other bands considered in this study.