Vibronic spectroscopy of the peroxyacetyl radical in the near IR

Hydrogen bonding and dominant conformations of hydrated sugar analogue complexes using tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol as the model sugar molecule

Water molecules, which serve as both hydrogen bond donors and acceptors, have been found to influence the conformational landscape of gas-phase phenyl-β-d-glucopyranoside.

Molecular structures of gas-phase neutral morpholine and its monohydrated complexes: experimental and theoretical approaches

Morpholine (NH(CH₂CH₂)₂O) is a typical six-membered aliphatic heterocyclic compound.

Gas-phase conformational preference of the smallest saccharide (glycolaldehyde) and its hydrated complexes with bridged hydrogen bonding

Glycoaldehyde (GA, HOCH₂CHO) is the simplest sugar unit of the carbohydrates and the only sugar to have been detected in interstellar space to date.

Mass-selected IR-VUV (118 nm) spectroscopic studies of radicals, aliphatic molecules, and their clusters

Mass-selected IR plus UV/VUV spectroscopy and mass spectrometry have been coupled into a powerful technique to investigate chemical, physical, structural, and electronic properties of radicals, molecules, and clusters. Advantages of the use of vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) radiation to create ions for mass spectrometry are its application to nearly all compounds with ionization potentials below the energy of a single VUV photon, its circumventing the requirement of UV chromophore group, its inability to ionize background gases, and its greatly reduced fragmenting capabilities. In this review, mass-selected IR plus VUV (118 nm) spectroscopy is introduced first in a general manner. Selected application examples of this spectroscopy are presented, which include the detections and structural analysis of radicals, molecules, and molecular clusters in a supersonic jet.

Photoelectron spectroscopy and thermochemistry of the peroxyacetate anion

The 351.1 nm photoelectron spectrum of the peroxyacetate anion, (CH(3)C(O)OO(-)) was measured. Analysis of the spectrum shows that the observed spectral features arise almost exclusively from transitions between the trans-conformer of the anion and the X(2)A'' and A (2)A' states of the corresponding radical. The electron affinity of trans-CH(3)C(O)OO is 2.381+/- 0.007 eV and the term energy splitting of the A (2)A' state is 0.691 +/- 0.009 eV, in excellent agreement with two prior values [Zalyubovsky et al. J. Phys. Chem. A 107, 7704 (2003); Hu et al. J. Phys. Chem. 124, 114305/1 (2006); Hu et al. J. Phys. Chem. 110, 2629 (2006)]. The gas-phase acidity of trans-peroxyacetic acid was bracketed between the acidity of acetic acid and tert-butylthiol at Delta(a)G(298)(trans-CH(3)C(O)OOH)=1439 +/- 14 kJ mol(-1) and Delta(a)H(298)(trans-CH(3)C(O)OOH)=1467+/-14 kJ mol(-1). The acidity of cis-CH(3)C(O)OOH was found by adding a calculated energy correction to the acidity of the trans-conformer; Delta(a)G(298)[cis-CH(3)C(O)OOH] = 1461 +/- 14 kJ mol(-1) and Delta(a)H(298)[cis- CH(3)C(O)OOH]=1490+/-14 kJ mol(-1). The O-H bond dissociation energies for both conformers were determined using a negative ion thermodynamic cycle to be D(0)[trans- CH(3)C(O)OOH]=381+/-14 kJ mol(-1) and D(0)[cis- CH(3)C(O)OOH]=403+/-14 kJ mol(-1). The atmospheric implications of these results and relations to the thermochemistry of peroxyacetyl nitrate are discussed briefly.