Infrared picosecond transient hole‐burning studies of the effect of hydrogen bonds on the vibrational line shape

Kinetics of exchange between zero-, one-, and two-hydrogen-bonded states of methyl and ethyl acetate in methanol

It has recently been shown that the ester carbonyl stretching vibration can be used as a sensitive probe of local electrostatic field in molecular systems. To further characterize this vibrational probe and extend its potential applications, we studied the kinetics of chemical exchange between differently hydrogen-bonded (H-bonded) ester carbonyl groups of methyl acetate (MA) and ethyl acetate (EA) in methanol. We found that, while both MA and EA can form zero, one, or two H-bonds with the solvent, the population of the 2hb state in MA is significantly smaller than that in EA. Using a combination of linear and nonlinear infrared measurements and numerical simulations, we further determined the rate constants for the exchange between these differently H-bonded states. We found that for MA the chemical exchange reaction between the two dominant states (i.e., 0hb and 1hb states) has a relaxation rate constant of 0.14 ps(-1), whereas for EA the three-state chemical exchange reaction occurs in a predominantly sequential manner with the following relaxation rate constants: 0.11 ps(-1) for exchange between 0hb and 1hb states and 0.12 ps(-1) for exchange between 1hb and 2hb states.

Fourier self-deconvolution of the IR spectra as a tool for investigation of distinct functional groups in porous materials: Brønsted acid sites in zeolites

For many decades, IR and FT-IR spectroscopy has generated valuable information about different functional groups in zeolites, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), and other porous materials. However, this technique cannot distinguish between functional groups in different local environments. Our study demonstrates that this limitation could be overcome by using Fourier self-deconvolution of infrared spectra (FSD-IR). We apply this method to study three acidic mordenite zeolites and show (i) that these zeolites contain six distinct Brønsted acid sites (BAS) as opposed to 2-4 different BAS previously considered in literature and (ii) that the relative amounts of these BAS are different in the three zeolites examined. We then analyze possible locations of six BAS in the mordenite structure and explain a number of conflicting results in literature. On this basis, we conclude that the FSD-IR method allows direct visualization and examination of distributions of distinct BAS in zeolites, thus providing a unique research opportunity, which no other method can provide. Given the similarities in the IR analysis of different functional groups in solids, we expect that the FSD-IR method will be also instrumental in the research into other porous materials, such as solid oxides and MOFs. The latter point is illustrated by FSD of the IR spectrum of hydroxyl groups in a sample of α-alumina.

Observation of rovibrational dephasing of molecules in parahydrogen crystals by frequency domain spectroscopy

Rotation-vibration transitions of methane molecules embedded in parahydrogen crystals were investigated through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Each transition shows extremely sharp peaks with a Lorentzian line shape profile, which indicates the spectra are free from inhomogeneous broadening. The steep temperature dependence of the linewidths observed in the range between 3.7 and 8. 5 K is interpreted to be a result of the pure dephasing relaxation mechanism. A remarkable difference in population relaxation widths between stretching and bending vibrational excited states was also found.