Vibrational Characterization of the 1:1 Iodine−Benzene Complex Isolated in Solid Krypton

Complexes of Diiodine with Heteroaromatic N-Oxides: Effects of Halogen-Bond Acceptors in Halogen Bonding

Halogen bonding (XB) in complexes of diiodine with heteroaromatic N-oxides was examined via a combination of UV-vis spectral and X-ray structural measurements, as well as computational analysis. While all of these associates were formed by analogous I···O bonds, they showed considerable variations of formation constants (5-1500 M^-1) and intermolecular I···O bond length (2.3-3.2 Å). In the solid state, both atoms of I₂ molecules were involved in XB, and the I···O separations were determined by the electron-donor abilities of N-oxides and the strength of the bonding on the opposite side of the ditopic XB donor. The solution-phase formation constants of 1:1 complexes, K, as well as magnitudes of the calculated interaction energies, ΔE, increased with the shift of the values of the most negative potentials on the surfaces of N-oxides' oxygen atoms, V_min, toward more negative values. Yet, the interatomic contacts consistently deviated from the locations of V_min. Instead, the structures of complexes were well suited for highest occupied molecular orbital/lowest unoccupied molecular orbital interactions of reactants. The values of K, ΔE, and the intermolecular distances d_I···O in the calculated complexes were highly correlated with the charge-transfer interaction energies derived from the natural bond orbital analysis. This indicated that, besides electrostatic, molecular orbital interactions play a substantial role in XB between diiodine and N-oxides. This conclusion was supported by the analysis of the complexes using the quantum theory of atoms in molecules, noncovalent interaction index, and density overlap region indicator, which showed that the covalent character of I···O bonding increases with the rise of interaction energies in the complexes.

Electronic spectroscopy of I(2)-Xe complexes in solid Krypton

In the present work, we have studied ion-pair states of matrix-isolated I(2) with vacuum-UV absorption and UV-vis-NIR emission, where the matrix environment is systematically changed by mixing Kr with Xe, from pure Kr to a more polarizable Xe host. Particular emphasis is put on low doping levels of Xe that yield a binary complex I(2)-Xe, as verified by coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) measurements. Associated with interaction of I(2) with Xe we can observe strong new absorption in vacuum-UV, redshifted 2400 cm(-1) from the X → D transition of I(2). Observed redshift can be explained by symmetry breaking of ion-pair states within the I(2)-Xe complex. Systematic Xe doping of Kr matrices shows that at low doping levels, positions of I(2) ion-pair emissions are not significantly affected by complexation with Xe, but simultaneous increase of emissions from doubly spin-excited states indicates non-radiative relaxation to valence states. At intermediate doping levels ion-pair emissions shift systematically to red due to change in the average polarizability of the environment. We have conducted spectrally resolved ultrafast pump-probe ion-pair emission studies with pure and Xe doped Kr matrices, in order to reveal the influence of Xe to I(2) dynamics in solid Kr. Strikingly, relaxed emission from the ion-pair states shows no indication of complex presence. It further indicates that the complex escapes detection due to a non-radiative relaxation.