Conformer specific nonadiabatic reaction dynamics in the photodissociation of partially deuterated thioanisoles (C6H5S-CH2D and C6H5S-CHD2)

Femtosecond Wavepacket Dynamics Reveals the Molecular Structures in the Excited (S1) and Cationic (D0) States

Molecular structures in the electronically excited (S₁) and cationic (D₀) states of 2-fluorothioanisole (2-FTA) have been precisely refined from the real-time dynamics of the femtosecond (fs) wavepacket prepared by the coherent excitation of the Franck-Condon active out-of-plane torsional modes in the S₁ ← S₀ transition at 285 nm. The simulation to reproduce the experiment in terms of the beating frequencies gives the nonplanar geometry of 2-FTA in S₁, where the out-of-plane dihedral angle (φ) of the S-CH₃ moiety is 51° with respect to the molecular plane. The behavior of the fs wavepacket in terms of the amplitudes and phases with the change of the probe (ionization) wavelength (λ_probe = 300-330 nm) provides the otherwise veiled structure of the cationic D₀ state. While the 2-FTA cation adopts the planar geometry (φ = 0°) at the global minimum, it is found to have a vertical minimum at φ ≈ 135° from the perspective of the D₀ ← S₁ vertical transition. Ab initio calculations support the experiment quite well although the simulation using the model potentials could improve the match with the experiment, giving the new interpretation for the previously disputed photoelectron spectroscopic results.

Conformer Specific Excited-State Structure of 3-Methylthioanisole

Trans and cis conformers of 3-methylthioanisole have been spectroscopically investigated to reveal the conformer specific structural changes upon the S₁(ππ*)-S₀ excitation. The conformational cooling during the supersonic expansion is found to be quite efficient in the Ar carrier gas giving the trans conformational isomer exclusively in the molecular beam, whereas both trans and cis conformers are populated in the jet when the sample is carried in Ne. Using the Stark deflector, trans and cis conformers are unambiguously identified, showing the distinct Stark deflection profiles according to their sufficiently different dipole moments of 1.013 or 1.670 D, respectively. For the trans conformer, the methyl moiety on the meta-position adopting the eclipsed geometry in S₀ transforms into the staggered geometry in S₁ to activate a series of the CH₃ torsional mode. A Hamiltonian with the one-dimensional sinusoidal torsional potential is solved using the free-rotor basis set to explain the experiment, giving the 3-fold torsional barrier of 34 and 304 cm^-1 for S₀ and S₁, respectively. For the cis conformer, on the other hand, the CH₃ torsion is little activated in the S₁-S₀ transition as both S₀ and S₁ adopt the staggered geometry at the minimum energy points. The doublet of each band of the cis conformer is ascribed to tunneling split due to the very low CH₃ torsional barrier of 27 cm^-1 in S₀. It is found that the cis conformer undergoes a planar to pseudoplanar structural change upon the S₁-S₀ transition. Theoretical calculation based on the double-well model potential curve could explain the experiment quite well, suggesting that the SCH₃ moiety of the cis conformer in S₁ becomes out-of-plane with respect to the plane of the phenyl moiety. This implies that excited-state predissociation dynamics of trans and cis conformers of the title molecule might be different.

Multidimensional characterization of the conical intersection seam in the normal mode space

Multidimensional conical intersection seam has been characterized by utilizing the dynamic resonances in the nonadiabatic transition probability experimentally observed in the predissociation of thioanisole isotopomers.

Vibronic structure and predissociation dynamics of 2-methoxythiophenol (S1): The effect of intramolecular hydrogen bonding on nonadiabatic dynamics

Vibronic spectroscopy and the S-H bond predissociation dynamics of 2-methoxythiophenol (2-MTP) in the S₁ (ππ^*) state have been investigated for the first time. Resonant two-photon ionization and slow-electron velocity map imaging (SEVI) spectroscopies have revealed that the S₁-S₀ transition of 2-MTP is accompanied with the planar to the pseudoplanar structural change along the out-of-plane ring distortion and the tilt of the methoxy moiety. The S₁ vibronic bands up to their internal energy of ∼1000 cm^-1 are assigned from the SEVI spectra taken via various S₁ vibronic intermediate states with the aid of ab initio calculations. Intriguingly, Fermi resonances have been identified for some vibronic bands. The S-H bond breakage of 2-MTP occurs via tunneling through an adiabatic barrier under the S₁/S₂ conical intersection seam, and it is followed by the bifurcation into either the adiabatic or nonadiabatic channel at the S₀/S₂ conical intersection where the diabatic S₂ state (πσ^*) is unbound with respect to the S-H bond elongation coordinate, giving the excited (Ã) or ground (X̃) state of the 2-methoxythiophenoxy radical, respectively. Surprisingly, the nonadiabatic transition probability at the S₀/S₂ conical intersection, estimated from the velocity map ion images of the nascent D fragment from 2-MTP-d₁ (2-CH₃O-C₆H₄SD) at the S₁ zero-point energy level, is found to be exceptionally high to give the X̃/Ã product branching ratio of 2.03 ± 0.20, which is much higher than the value of ∼0.8 estimated for the bare thiophenol at the S₁ origin. It even increases to 2.33 ± 0.17 at the ν₄₅ ² mode (101 cm^-1) before it rapidly decays to 0.69 ± 0.05 at the S₁ internal energy of about 2200 cm^-1. This suggests that the strong intramolecular hydrogen bonding of S⋯D⋯OCH₃ in 2-MTP at least in the low S₁ internal energy region should play a significant role in localizing the reactive flux onto the conical intersection seam. The minimum energy pathway calculations (second-order coupled-cluster resolution of the identity or time-dependent-density functional theory) of the adiabatic S₁ state suggest that the intimate dynamic interplay between the S-H bond cleavage and intramolecular hydrogen bonding could be crucial in the nonadiabatic surface hopping dynamics taking place at the conical intersection.

Experimental observation of nonadiabatic bifurcation dynamics at resonances in the continuum

The surface crossing of bound and unbound electronic states in multidimensional space often gives rise to resonances in the continuum. This situation happens in the πσ*-mediated photodissociation reaction of 2-fluorothioanisole; optically-bright bound S1 (ππ*) vibrational states of 2-fluorothioanisole are strongly coupled to the optically-dark S2 (πσ*) state, which is repulsive along the S-CH3 elongation coordinate. It is revealed here that the reactive flux prepared at such resonances in the continuum bifurcates into two distinct reaction pathways with totally different dynamics in terms of energy disposal and nonadiabatic transition probability. This indicates that the reactive flux in the Franck-Condon region may either undergo nonadiabatic transition funneling through the conical intersection from the upper adiabat, or follow a low-lying adiabatic path, along which multiple dynamic saddle points may be located. Since 2-fluorothioanisole adopts a nonplanar geometry in the S1 minimum energy, the quasi-degenerate S1/S2 crossing seam in the nonplanar geometry, which lies well below the planar S1/S2 conical intersection, is likely responsible for the efficient vibronic coupling, especially in the low S1 internal energy region. As the excitation energy increases, bound-to-continuum coupling is facilitated with the aid of intramolecular vibrational redistribution, along many degrees of freedom spanning the large structural volume. This leads to the rapid domination of the continuum character of the reactive flux. This work reports direct and robust experimental observations of the nonadiabatic bifurcation dynamics of the reactive flux occurring at resonances in the continuum of polyatomic molecules.

Spatial Isolation of Conformational Isomers of Hydroquinone and Its Water Cluster Using the Stark Deflector

Conformational isomers of hydroquinone and their 1:1 clusters with water have been spatially separated using a Stark deflector in a supersonic jet. trans-Hydroquinone (HyQ) conformer with zero dipole moment is little influenced by inhomogeneous electric fields, whereas cis conformer with nonzero dipole moment (2.38 D) is significantly deflected from the molecular beam axis into the direction along which the strong field gradient is applied. Resonant two photon ionization carried out by shifting the laser position perpendicular to the molecular beam axis after the Stark deflector then gives an exclusive S₁-S₀ excitation spectrum of the cis conformer only, making possible immaculate conformer-specific spectroscopy and dynamics. As the spatial separation is apparently proportional to the effective dipole moment strength, conformational assignment could be absolute in the Stark deflector, which contrasts with the hole-burning spectroscopic technique where identification of a conformational isomer is intrinsically not unambiguous. trans- and cis-HyQ-H₂O clusters have also been spatially separated according to their distinct effective dipole moment strengths to give absolute spectroscopic identification of each cluster isomer, nailing down the otherwise disputable conformational assignment. This is the first report for the spatial separation of conformational cluster isomers.