Ragesh Kumar TP, Nag P, Ranković M, Luxford TFM, Kočišek J, Mašín Z, Fedor J. Distant Symmetry Control in Electron-Induced Bond Cleavage.
J Phys Chem Lett 2022;
13:11136-11142. [PMID:
36441975 DOI:
10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c03096]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
We experimentally show that N-H bond cleavage in the pyrrole molecule following resonant electron attachment is allowed and controlled by the motion of the atoms which are not dissociating, namely, of the carbon-attached hydrogen atoms. We use this fact to steer the efficiency of this bond cleavage. In order to interpret the experimental findings, we have developed a method for locating all resonant and virtual states of an electron-molecule system in the complex plane, based on all-electron R-matrix scattering calculations. Mapping these as a function of molecular geometry allows us to separate two contributing dissociation mechanisms: a π* resonance formation inducing strong bending deformations and a nonresonant σ* mechanism originating in a virtual state. The coupling between the two mechanisms is enabled by the out-of-plane motion of the C-H bonds, and we show that it must happen on an ultrafast (few fs) time scale.
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