Strong Fermi Resonance Research Articles

Twin peaks: Matrix isolation studies of H2S·amine complexes shedding light on fundamental S-H⋯N bonding.

Noncovalent bonding between atmospheric molecules is central to the formation of aerosol particles and cloud condensation nuclei and, consequently, radiative forcing. While our understanding of O-H⋯B interactions is well developed, S-H⋯B hydrogen bonding has received far less attention. Sulfur- and nitrogen-containing molecules, particularly amines, play a significant role in atmospheric chemistry, yet S-H⋯N interactions are not well understood at a fundamental level. To help characterize these systems, H2S and methyl-, ethyl-, n-propyl-, dimethyl-, and trimethylamine (MA, EA, n-PA, DMA, and TMA) have been investigated using matrix isolation Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and high-level theoretical methods. Experiments showed that H2S forms hydrogen bonded complexes with each of the amines, with bond strengths following the trend MA ≈ EA ≈ n-PA < TMA ≤ DMA, in line with past experimental work on H2SO4·amine complexes. However, the calculated results indicated that the trend should be MA < DMA < TMA, in line with past theoretical work on H2SO4·amine complexes. Evidence of strong Fermi resonances indicated that anharmonicity may play a critical role in the stabilization of each complex. The theoretical results were able to replicate experiment only after binding energies were recalculated to include the anharmonic effects. In the case of H2SO4·amine complexes, our results suggest that the discrepancy between theory and experiment could be reconciled, given an appropriate treatment of anharmonicity.

IR absorption band of weak H-Bonded systems: Showcasing the signature of the quantum indirect damping within the framework of a new approach using non-Hermitean Hamiltonian formalism

Herein, we investigate the effects of the irreversible action of the medium on the theoretical elucidation of the IR spectrum of weakly H-bonded systems, a prototypical model which provides a rigorous treatment of the relaxation mechanisms impacts on the IR spectral density. The attention will be focused particularly on the effect of indirect damping on the IRυS(X−H⃗) spectrum beyond the harmonic and adiabatic approximations. The ultimate objective of the present investigation is the treatment of the action of the surrounding of the intermonomer modes of H-bonded systems, which must induce a broadening of the Dirac delta peaks, the nature of which, as shown by Maréchal and Witkowski theory, is a Franck–Condon progression. The quantum treatment of the IR absorption band reveals that quantum relaxation of the intermonomer mode of H-bonded complexes could be successfully approached by a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian formalism. Motivated by development of a second method that will be able to validate the first approach, a computationally efficient algorithm was proposed for elucidating the quantum indirect relaxation using Hermitean Hamiltonians. The real eigenvalues, corresponding to different energies of the system are considered to be complex by adjunction of the imaginary parts, which reflects the action of the indirect irreversible action of the medium. These two crude approaches may pave the way for the incorporation of the mechanism of indirect relaxation in more physical and complex situations dealing, particularly, with tunnelling effects in strong H-bonded species, Fermi resonances, and Davydov coupling for cyclic H-bonds dimers beyond the harmonic and adiabatic assumptions.

Effects of the Intramolecular Group and Solvent on Vibrational Coupling Modes and Strengths of Fermi Resonances in Aryl Azides: A DFT Study of 4-Azidotoluene and 4-Azido-N-phenylmaleimide.

The high transition dipole strength of the azide asymmetric stretch makes aryl azides good candidates as vibrational probes (VPs). However, aryl azides have complex absorption profiles due to Fermi resonances (FRs). Understanding the origin and the vibrational modes involved in FRs of aryl azides is critically important toward developing them as VPs for studies of protein structures and structural changes in response to their surroundings. As such, we studied vibrational couplings in 4-azidotoluene and 4-azido-N-phenylmaleimide in two solvents, N,N-dimethylacetamide and tetrahydrofuran, to explore the origin and the effects of intramolecular group and solvent on the FRs of aryl azides using density functional theory (DFT) calculations with the B3LYP functional and seven basis sets, 6-31G(d,p), 6-31+G(d,p), 6-31++G(d,p), 6-311G(d,p), 6-311+G(d,p), 6-311++G(d,p), and 6-311++G(df,pd). Two combination bands consisting of the azide symmetric stretch and another mode form strong FRs with the azide asymmetric stretch for both molecules. The FR profile was altered by replacing the methyl group with maleimide. Solvents change the relative peak position and intensity more significantly for 4-azido-N-phenylmaleimide, which makes it a more sensitive VP. Furthermore, the DFT results indicate that a comparison among the results from different basis sets can be used as a means to predict more reliable vibrational spectra.

An approximation to the vibrational coupled-cluster method for CH-stretching of large molecules: application to naphthalene and anthracene.

We propose an approximation to the vibrational coupled-cluster method (VCCM) to describe the CH-stretching region of the vibrational spectrum of large molecules. The vibrational modes of a molecule are divided into two sets: the target set and the bath set. The target set includes the CH stretches and the modes that are strongly coupled with the CH stretches and/or involve strong Fermi resonances with a CH stretch fundamental. The rest of the modes are in the bath set. First, the effective harmonic oscillator (EHO) approximation is invoked for the whole system to obtain the zeroth-order frequencies and modified potentials. The effects of interaction between the bath set and the target sets are included in the modified potential from the EHO calculation. The VCCM equations are constructed with the modified potential from the EHO calculations and for the target set only. The transition energies and intensities are calculated using such a truncated VCCM approximation. The proposed method is applied to calculate the IR spectra of naphthalene and anthracene. The results with three different criteria for selecting the modes in the target set are compared with the experimental IR spectra.

Vibrational Dynamics of the Intramolecular H-Bond in Acetylacetone Investigated with Transient and 2D IR Spectroscopy.

Acetylacetone (AcAc) has proven to be a fruitful but highly challenging model system for the experimental and computational interrogation of strong intramolecular hydrogen bonds. Key questions remain, however, regarding the identity of the minimum-energy structure of AcAc and the dynamics of intramolecular proton transfer. Here, we investigate the OH/OD stretch and bend regions of the enol tautomer of AcAc and its deuterated isotopologue with transient absorption and 2D IR spectroscopy. The OH bend region reveals a single dominant diagonal transition near 1625 cm-1 with intense cross peaks to lower-frequency modes, demonstrating highly mixed fingerprint transitions that contain OH bend character. The anharmonic coupling of the OH bend results in a highly elongated OH bend excited-state absorption transition that indicates a large manifold of OH bend overtone/combination bands in the OH stretch region that leads to strong bend-stretch Fermi resonance interactions. The OH and OD stretch regions consist of broad ground-state bleach signals, but there is no clear evidence of ω21 excited-state absorptions due to rapid population relaxation arising from strong intramolecular coupling to bending, fingerprint, and low-frequency H-bond modes. Orientational relaxation dynamics persist for timescales longer than the vibrational lifetimes, with polarization anisotropy components decaying within approximately 2 and 10 periods of the O-O oscillation for the OH and OD stretch, respectively. The significant isotopic dependence of the orientational dynamics is discussed in the context of intramolecular mode coupling, diffusional processes, and contributions from proton/deuteron transfer dynamics.

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The IR transmittance spectrum of an isotopic mixture of chlorodifluoromethane (CHF2Cl, Freon-22) with a 33% fraction of 13C and a natural ratio of chlorine isotopes was measured in the frequency range 1400-740 cm–1 with a resolution of 0.001 cm–1 at a temperature of 20C. An ab initio calculation of the structure and sextic potential energy surface and surfaces of the components of the dipole moment has been carried out by the the electronic quantum-mechanical method of Möller-Plesset, MP2/cc-pVTZ. Then the potential was optimized by replacing the harmonic frequencies with the frequencies calculated by the electronic method of coupled clusters, CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVQZ. The fundamental and combination frequencies were calculated using the operator perturbation theory of Van Vleck (CVPTn) of the second and fourth order (n=2,4). Resonance effects were modeled using an additional variational calculation in the basis up to fourfold VCI excitation (4). The average prediction error for the fundamental frequencies of the 12C isotopologues was ~1.5 cm–1. The achieved accuracy made it possible to reliably predict the isotopic frequency shifts of the 13C isotopologues. It is shown that the strong Fermi resonance ν4/2ν6 dominates in the 12C isotopologues and is practically absent in 13C. The literature assumption [Spectrochim. Acta A, 44: 553] about the splitting of ν1 (CH) due to the resonance ν1/ν2+ν7+ν9 is confirmed. The coefficients of the polyadic quantum number are determined. The analysis made it possible to carry out a preliminary identification of the centers of the vibrational-rotational bands of isotopologues 13CHF235Cl и 13CHF237Cl in the spectrum of the mixture in preparation for individual analyzes of the vibrational-rotational structures of individual vibrational transitions.

Неэмпирический анализ изотопических сдвигов и резонансных эффектов в инфракрасном спектре высокого разрешения фреона-22 (CHF-=SUB=-2-=/SUB=-Cl), обогащенного -=SUP=-13-=/SUP=-C

The IR transmittance spectrum of an isotopic mixture of chlorodifluoromethane (CHF2Cl, Freon-22) with a 33% fraction of 13C and a natural ratio of chlorine isotopes was measured in the frequency range 1400-740 cm–1 with a resolution of 0.001 cm–1 at a temperature of 20C. An ab initio calculation of the structure and sextic potential energy surface and surfaces of the components of the dipole moment has been carried out by the the electronic quantum-mechanical method of Möller-Plesset, MP2/cc-pVTZ. Then the potential was optimized by replacing the harmonic frequencies with the frequencies calculated by the electronic method of coupled clusters, CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVQZ. The fundamental and combination frequencies were calculated using the operator perturbation theory of Van Vleck (CVPTn) of the second and fourth order (n=2,4). Resonance effects were modeled using an additional variational calculation in the basis up to fourfold VCI excitation (4). The average prediction error for the fundamental frequencies of the 12C isotopologues was ~1.5 cm–1. The achieved accuracy made it possible to reliably predict the isotopic frequency shifts of the 13C isotopologues. It is shown that the strong Fermi resonance ν4/2ν6 dominates in the 12C isotopologues and is practically absent in 13C. The literature assumption [Spectrochim. Acta A, 44: 553] about the splitting of ν1 (CH) due to the resonance ν1/ν2+ν7+ν9 is confirmed. The coefficients of the polyadic quantum number are determined. The analysis made it possible to carry out a preliminary identification of the centers of the vibrational-rotational bands of isotopologues 13CHF235Cl и 13CHF237Cl in the spectrum of the mixture in preparation for individual analyzes of the vibrational-rotational structures of individual vibrational transitions.

Competition of Several Energy-Transport Initiation Mechanisms Defines the Ballistic Transport Speed.

The ballistic regime of vibrational energy transport in oligomeric molecular chains occurs with a constant, often high, transport speed and high efficiency. Such a transport regime can be initiated by exciting a chain end group with a mid-infrared (IR) photon. To better understand the wavepacket formation process, two chemically identical end groups, azido groups with normal, 14N3-, and isotopically substituted, 15N3-, nitrogen atoms, were tested for wavepacket initiation in compounds with alkyl chains of n = 5, 10, and 15 methylene units terminated with a carboxylic acid (-a) group, denoted as 14N3Cn-a and 15N3Cn-a. The transport was initiated by exciting the azido moiety stretching mode, the νN≡N tag, at 2100 cm–1 (14N3Cn-a) or 2031 cm–1 (15N3Cn-a). Opposite to the expectation, the ballistic transport speed was found to decrease upon 14N3 → 15N3 isotope editing. Three mechanisms of the transport initiation of a vibrational wavepacket are described and analyzed. The first mechanism involves the direct formation of a wavepacket via excitation with IR photons of several strong Fermi resonances of the tag mode with the νN=N + νN–C combination state while each of the combination state components is mixed with delocalized chain states. The second mechanism relies on the vibrational relaxation of an end-group-localized tag into a mostly localized end-group state that is strongly coupled to multiple delocalized states of a chain band. Harmonic mixing of νN=N of the azido group with CH2 wagging states of the chain permits a wavepacket formation within a portion of the wagging band, suggesting a fast transport speed. The third mechanism involves the vibrational relaxation of an end-group-localized mode into chain states. Two such pathways were found for the νN≡N initiation: The νN=N mode relaxes efficiently into the twisting band states and low-frequency acoustic modes, and the νN–C mode relaxes into the rocking band states and low-frequency acoustic modes. The contributions of the three initiation mechanisms in the ballistic energy transport initiated by νN≡N tag are quantitatively evaluated and related to the experiment. We conclude that the third mechanism dominates the transport in alkane chains of 5–15 methylene units initiated with the νN≡N tag and the wavepacket generated predominantly at the CH2 twisting band. The isotope effect of the transport speed is attributed to a larger contribution of the faster wavepackets for 14N3Cn-a or to the different breadth of the wavepacket within the twisting band. The study offers a systematic description of different transport initiation mechanisms and discusses the requirements and features of each mechanism. Such analysis will be useful for designing novel materials for energy management.

Vibrational intensities and anharmonicity in MIR, NIR and Raman spectra of liquid CHCl3, CDCl3, CHBr3 and CDBr3: Spectroscopic and theoretical study

This work provides new quantitative information on vibrational spectra of liquid CHCl3, CDCl3, CHBr3 and CDBr3. Deconvolution of the mid-infrared (MIR), near-infrared (NIR) and Raman spectra permitted for determination of the parameters of fundamentals, overtones and combination bands. Simultaneously, the anharmonic vibrational spectra were calculated by MP2 and B3LYP methods. Using these data, for the first time, we estimated the experimental and theoretical contributions from the anharmonic vibrations (overtones and combination bands) to MIR spectra of all studied compounds. For chloroforms and CHBr3 these vibrations contribute to less than 5.5% (experimental) and 8% (theoretical) of MIR intensity. Only for CDBr3 this contribution is much higher (21% and 24%) due to strong Fermi resonance (FR) between ν4 and ν3 + ν5 vibrations. Besides, we estimated the contributions from the MIR and NIR ranges to the total vibrational intensity. As expected, the contributions from NIR range are small (<2.5%) for all studied samples. It is of note that the theoretical contributions from MIR and NIR regions are very close to the experimental ones. It results from accurate theoretical prediction of the intensities of the fundamental bands. On the other hand, the intensities of the overtones and combination bands are predicted less satisfactory, what is clearly seen in NIR spectra. The MIR spectra of all compounds reveal the presence of FR. The FR resonances increase the intensity of the non-fundamental transitions, for CDBr3 this increase is significant. Interestingly, Raman spectra of both chloroforms were also influenced by FR. As a result, the spectra of CHCl3 and CDCl3 develop two intense binary combinations of a total contribution ≈12%.Our results reveal that the overtones and combination bands are significantly weaker as compared with the fundamental bands. Some departures from this trend result from FR. We did not observe any correlation between the intensities of the fundamentals and the corresponding overtones and combination bands. The bands due to the first overtones are broader as compared with the fundamental bands, but we did not observe any regular relationship. Surprisingly, the more regular trend was observed for the second overtone of the ν1 band, which is four times broader than the corresponding fundamental band.

Vibrational Signature of Dynamic Coupling of a Strong Hydrogen Bond.

Elucidating the dynamic couplings of hydrogen bonds remains an important and challenging goal for spectroscopic studies of bulk systems, because their vibrational signatures are masked by the collective effects of the fluctuation of many hydrogen bonds. Here we utilize size-selected infrared spectroscopy based on a tunable vacuum ultraviolet free electron laser to unmask the vibrational signatures for the dynamic couplings in neutral trimethylamine-water and trimethylamine-methanol complexes, as microscopic models with only one single hydrogen bond holding two molecules. Surprisingly broad progression of OH stretching peaks with distinct intensity modulation over ∼700 cm-1 is observed for trimethylamine-water, while the dramatic reduction of this progression in the trimethylamine-methanol spectrum offers direct experimental evidence for the dynamic couplings. State-of-the-art quantum mechanical calculations reveal that such dynamic couplings are originated from strong Fermi resonance between the stretches of hydrogen-bonded OH and several motions of the solvent water/methanol, such as translation, rocking, and bending, which are significant in various solvated complexes commonly found in atmospheric and biological systems.

High-Level Rovibrational Calculations on Ketenimine.

From an astrochemical point of view ketenimine (CH2CNH) is a complex organic molecule (COM) and therefore likely to be a building block for biologically relevant molecules. Since it has been detected in the star-forming region Sagittarius B2(N), it is of high relevance in this field. Although experimental data are available for certain bands, for some energy ranges such as above 1200 cm−1 reliable data virtually do not exist. In addition, high-level ab initio calculations are neither reported for ketenimine nor for one of its deuterated isotopologues. In this paper, we provide for the first time data from accurate quantum chemical calculations and a thorough analysis of the full rovibrational spectrum. Based on high-level potential energy surfaces obtained from explicitly correlated coupled-cluster calculations including up to 4-mode coupling terms, the (ro)vibrational spectrum of ketenimine has been studied in detail by variational calculations relying on rovibrational configuration interaction (RVCI) theory. Strong Fermi resonances were found for all isotopologues. Rovibrational infrared intensities have been obtained from dipole moment surfaces determined from the distinguishable cluster approximation. A comparison of the spectra of the CH2CNH molecule with experimental data validates our results, but also reveals new insight about the system, which shows very strong Coriolis coupling effects.

Strong Fermi Resonance Associated with Proton Motions Revealed by Vibrational Spectra of Asymmetric Proton‐Bound Dimers

AbstractInfrared spectra for a series of asymmetric proton‐bound dimers with protonated trimethylamine (TMA‐H+) as the proton donor were recorded and analyzed. The frequency of the N–H+ stretching mode is expected to red shift as the proton affinity of proton acceptors increases. The observed band, however, shows a peculiar splitting of approximately 300 cm−1 with the intensity shifting pattern resembling a two‐level system. Theoretical investigation reveals that the observed band splitting and its extraordinarily large gap of around 300 cm−1 is a result of strong coupling between the fundamental of the proton stretching mode and overtone states of the two proton bending modes, that is commonly known as Fermi resonance (FR). We also provide a general theoretical model to link the strong FR coupling to the quasi‐two‐level system. Since the model does not depend on the molecular specification of TMA‐H+, the strong coupling we observed is an intrinsic property associated with proton motions.

Strong Fermi Resonance Associated with Proton Motions Revealed by Vibrational Spectra of Asymmetric Proton-Bound Dimers.

Infrared spectra for a series of asymmetric proton-bound dimers with protonated trimethylamine (TMA-H+ ) as the proton donor were recorded and analyzed. The frequency of the N-H+ stretching mode is expected to red shift as the proton affinity of proton acceptors increases. The observed band, however, shows a peculiar splitting of approximately 300 cm-1 with the intensity shifting pattern resembling a two-level system. Theoretical investigation reveals that the observed band splitting and its extraordinarily large gap of around 300 cm-1 is a result of strong coupling between the fundamental of the proton stretching mode and overtone states of the two proton bending modes, that is commonly known as Fermi resonance (FR). We also provide a general theoretical model to link the strong FR coupling to the quasi-two-level system. Since the model does not depend on the molecular specification of TMA-H+ , the strong coupling we observed is an intrinsic property associated with proton motions.

A combined electronic structure and molecular dynamics approach to computing the OH vibrational feature of strongly hydrogen-bonded carboxylic acids.

Medium and strong hydrogen bonds give rise to vibrational features that can span several hundreds of wavenumbers and have unusual line shapes. For example, dimers consisting of carboxylic acids hydrogen-bonded to nitrogen-containing aromatic bases exhibit a vibrational feature that spans over 900 cm-1 and contains two very broad peaks. In this report, we demonstrate how this feature can be reproduced using a combined molecular dynamics (MD) and electronic structure "spectral map" approach, which has been very successful in modeling the vibrational spectrum of water in different environments. In this approach, spectral maps are created, relating the transition frequencies and probabilities to the electric field along the OH bond, which are obtained from the density functional theory calculations of snapshots taken from a classical MD simulation. This map was used to compute the spectral properties of thousands of geometries of the pyridine-acetic acid dimer sampled by a MD simulation, which were used to compute the overall spectral feature. It was found that this approach reproduced the experimental spectrum better than the previous dimer stretch approaches (which were based on describing the dimer geometries harmonically) through a more accurate sampling of dimer geometries. The broadness of these vibrational features largely originates from the range of geometries present in the condensed phase, while the unusual line shape is caused by strong Fermi resonances.

A full-dimensional time-dependent wave packet study of the H + CO2 → OH + CO reaction

A full dimensional quantum dynamics calculation has been carried out to study the prototypical complex forming H+CO2→OH+CO reaction. The total reaction probability is converged with a propagation time much shorter than the reverse reaction, and only exhibits very small oscillatory structures, indicating the reaction proceeds mainly through a direct mechanism. The strong Fermi resonance between the (020) and (100) vibrationally excited states makes it hard to define their efficacy for reactivity, although it is conceivable that the bending excitation is much more effective than the symmetric excitation according to the geometry of the transition state in the entrance channel.

Ab initio ro-vibronic spectroscopy of the Π2 PCS radical and Σ+1PCS- anion.

Near-equilibrium potential energy surfaces have been calculated for both the PCS radical and its anion using a composite coupled cluster approach based on explicitly correlated F12 methods in order to provide accurate structures and spectroscopic properties. These transient species are still unknown and the present study provides theoretical predictions of the radical and its anion for the first time. Since these species are strongly suggested to play an important role as intermediates in the interstellar medium, the rotational and vibrational spectroscopic parameters are presented to help aid in the identification and assignment of these spectra. The rotational constants produced will aid in ground-based observation. Both the PCS radical and the PCS- anion are linear. In the PCS- anion, which has a predicted adiabatic electron binding energy (adiabatic electron affinity of PCS) of 65.6 kcal/mol, the P-C bond is stronger than the corresponding neutral radical showing almost triple bond character, while the C-S bond is weaker, showing almost single bond character in the anion. The PCS anion shows a smaller rotational constant than that of the neutral. The ω3 stretching vibrational frequencies of PCS- are red-shifted from the radical, while the ω1 and ω2 vibrations are blue-shifted with ω1 demonstrating the largest blue shift. The ro-vibronic spectrum of the PCS radical has been accurately calculated in variational nuclear motion calculations including both Renner-Teller (RT) and spin-orbit (SO) coupling effects using the composite potential energy near-equilibrium potential energy and coupled cluster dipole moment surfaces. The spectrum is predicted to be very complicated even at low energies due to the presence of a strong Fermi resonance between the bending mode and symmetric stretch, but also due to similar values of the bending frequency, RT, and SO splittings.

High-resolution infrared studies of perdeutero-spiropentane, C5D8

Perdeutero-spiropentane (C5D8) has been synthesized, and infrared and Raman spectra are reported for the first time. Wavenumber assignments are made for most of the fundamental vibrational states. Gas phase infrared spectra were recorded at a resolution (0.002cm−1) sufficient to resolve individual rovibrational lines and show evidence of strong Coriolis and/or Fermi resonance interactions for most bands. However a detailed rovibrational analysis of the fundamental ν15 (b2) parallel band proved possible, and a fit of more than 1600 lines yielded a band origin of 1053.84465(10)cm−1 and ground state constants (in units of cm−1): B0=0.1120700(9), DJ=1.51(3)×10−8, DJK=3.42(15)×10−8. We note that the B0 value is significantly less than a value of Ba=0.1140cm−1 calculated using structural parameters from an earlier electron diffraction (ED) study, whereas one expects Ba to be lower than B0 because of thermal averaging over higher vibrational levels. A similar discrepancy was noted in an earlier study of C5H8 (Price et al., 2011). The structural and spectroscopic results are in good accord with values computed at the anharmonic level using the B3LYP density functional method with a cc-pVTZ basis set.

Vibrational spectra of four polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons under high pressure: implications for stabilities of PAHs during accretion

Infrared and Raman spectra of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) naphthalene, anthracene, phenanthrene, and pyrene have been examined up to 10–55 GPa at 300 K, to probe structural changes in these materials under high-pressures, and to relate these to shock measurements on these materials. The goal is to develop an understanding of how such hydrocarbons might be processed during planetary accretion. A range of phase transitions in PAHs are observed and, in accord with previous investigations, these typically initiate at relatively low pressures (0.3–4.0 GPa): the lower-pressure transitions are likely associated with inter-molecular changes such as changes in symmetry and/or molecular orientation, charge transfer processes, or changes in π electron density, and are often sluggish. Higher-pressure (7–10 GPa) phase transitions in PAHs are likely associated with profound structural changes like dimerization, which are not always reversible. Laser-induced luminescence is encountered at pressures well below those at which PAHs amorphize, and a strong pressure-induced Fermi resonance is identified between the highest-lying inter-molecular modes and lowest-lying intra-molecular modes in each PAH examined. It is the increased strength of inter-molecular interactions under pressure that likely generates increasing overlap of π orbitals and leads to cross-linking (dimerization) of the molecules and the destruction of their planar symmetry. The first step in the amorphization of these compounds is likely dimerization, and amorphization occurs when long-range order is lost and a greater diversity of local structural environments is introduced into these materials, such as carbons being shared between rings, embayed structures, sp, sp2, and sp3 hybridized carbon atoms, a broad range of C–H bonding environments, and fewer residual resonance-stabilized C–C units. Our results are consistent with pressure producing amorphous, hydrogenated carbon material from PAH precursors: hence, impact phenomena, coupled with post-shock hydrogen loss, could provide an alternate pathway to produce amorphous carbon assemblages of the type observed within a range of meteorites. Additionally, smaller PAHs tend to be most stable under compression; as these are the most volatile of the PAHs, the combination of shock during accretion, coupled with trends in volatility, may limit the presence of PAHs within objects formed in the early solar system.

State-Resolved Quantum Dynamics of Photodetachment of HCO2(-)/DCO2(-) on an Accurate Global Potential Energy Surface.

Full-dimensional quantum dynamics studies of the photodetachment of HCO2(-) and DCO2(-) are reported using a wave-packet method on an accurate global potential energy surface of the neutral HOCO/HCO2 system. The calculated photoelectron spectra reproduced both the positions and widths of the main HCO2 and DCO2 peaks observed in experiment. Specifically, both the (2)A1 and (2)B2 resonance peaks of the neutral radicals were identified in our simulations thanks to the adiabatic PES that captures both the (2)A1 and (2)B2 minima. The narrow widths and isotope effect of the lowest resonances are indicative of tunneling-facilitated predissociation. Furthermore, the dissociation product CO2 was found to be excited in both its symmetric stretching and bending modes, which are coupled via a strong Fermi resonance, but rotationally cold, in good agreement with the recent photoelectron-photodetachment coincidence experiments.

Vibrational anharmonicities and reactivity of tetrafluoroethylene.

Compared to ethylene and its nonfluorinated derivatives, C2F4 is peculiar in many reactions. It very easily adds to radicals and prefers formation of four-membered rings over Diels–Alder reactions. This has been rationalized by the preference of fluorine for carbon sp3 hybridization, which is possible on opening of the double bond. Another property, the thermal dissociation of the C=C bond, has been explained by the stabilization of the product (CF2) by back-bonding. Here, it is attempted to correlate such properties with vibrational constants, in particular for C=C stretching and twisting and for carbon pyramidalization. The only force constant found to be lowered compared to ethylene is that for trans pyramidalization (ν8), and CC bond softening on ν8 distortion is indicated by the conspicuously large magnitude of anharmonic constant, x18. Both observations can be rationalized by a valence-bond model that predicts a trans bent structure on weakening the CC bond. Conclusions are drawn about the dissociation path and peculiarities of the potential. Other anharmonicities, both experimental and calculated and some in 12C13CF4 and 13C2F4, are also discussed. In particular some strong Fermi resonances are identified and their effects accounted for.