Fragment imaging in the infrared photodissociation of the Ar-tagged protonated water clusters H3O+-Ar and H+(H2O)2-Ar

Infrared photodissociation of protonated water clusters with an Ar atom, namely H₃O⁺-Ar and H⁺(H₂O)₂-Ar, was investigated by an imaging technique for mass-selected ions, to reveal the intra- and intermolecular vibrational dynamics. The presented system has the advantage of achieving fragment ion images with the cluster size- and mode-selective photoexcitation of each OH stretching vibration. Translational energy distributions of photofragments were obtained from the images upon the excitation of the bound (ν_b) and free (ν_f) OH stretching vibrations. The energy fractions in the translational motion were compared between ν_b^I and ν_f^I in H₃O⁺-Ar or between ν_b^II and ν_f^II in H⁺(H₂O)₂-Ar, where the labels "I" and "II" represent H₃O⁺-Ar and H⁺(H₂O)₂-Ar, respectively. In H₃O⁺-Ar, the ν_f^I excitation exhibited a smaller translational energy than ν_b^I. This result can be explained by the higher vibrational energy of ν_f^I, which enabled it to produce bending (ν₄) excited H₃O⁺ fragments that should be favored according to the energy-gap model. In contrast to H₃O⁺-Ar, the ν_b^II excitation of an Ar-tagged H₂O subunit and the ν_f^II excitation of an untagged H₂O subunit resulted in very similar translational energy distributions in H⁺(H₂O)₂-Ar. The similar energy fractions independent of the excited H₂O subunits suggested that the ν_b^II and ν_f^II excited states relaxed into a common intermediate state, in which the vibrational energy was delocalized within the H₂O-H⁺-H₂O moiety. However, the translational energy distributions for H⁺(H₂O)₂-Ar did not agree with a statistical dissociation model, which implied another aspect of the process, that is, Ar dissociation via incomplete energy randomization in the whole H⁺(H₂O)₂-Ar cluster.

Photofragment ion imaging in vibrational predissociation of the H2O+Ar complex ion

Vibrational predissociation processes of the H₂O⁺Ar complex ion following mid-infrared excitations of the OH stretching modes and bending overtone of the H₂O⁺ unit were studied by photofragment ion imaging. The anisotropy parameters, β, of the angular distributions of the photofragment ions were clearly dependent on the type (branch) of rotational excitation, β > 0 for the P-branch excitations, while β < 0 for the Q-branch excitations, which were consistent with the previous theoretical predictions for the rotationally resolved optical transition of a prolate symmetric top. The translational energy distributions had a similar form, irrespective of the excitation modes. This result suggests that the prepared excited states underwent a common relaxation pathway via the bending or bending overtone state of the H₂O⁺ unit. In addition, the available energy was preferentially distributed into the rotational energy of the H₂O⁺ fragment ions rather than the translational energy. The mechanism of the rotational excitations of the H₂O⁺ fragment ions was discussed based on the steric configuration of the H₂O⁺ and Ar units at the moment of dissociation.

Mode-specific vibrational predissociation dynamics of (HCl)2 via the free and bound HCl stretch overtones

Velocity-map ion imaging has been used to study the vibrational predissociation dynamics of the HCl dimer following infrared (IR) excitation in the HCl stretch overtone region near 1.77 Å. HCl monomer predissociation products were detected state-selectively using 2 + 1 resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization spectroscopy. The IR action spectrum shows the free HCl stretch (2ν₁), the bound HCl stretch (2ν₂), and a combination band involving the intermolecular van der Waals stretching mode (2ν₂ + ν₄). Fragment speed distributions extracted from ion images obtained for a range of HCl(v = 0, 1; J) levels following vibrational excitation on the 2ν₁ and 2ν₂ bands yield the correlated product pair distributions. All product pairs comprise HCl(v = 1) + HCl(v = 0) and show a strong propensity to minimize the recoil kinetic energy. Highly non-statistical and mode-dependent HCl product rotational distributions are observed, in contrast to that observed following stretch fundamental excitation. Predissociation lifetimes are also mode-dependent: excitation of the free HCl leads to τ_VP = 13 ± 1 ns, while the bound stretch has a shorter lifetime τ_VP ≤ 6 ns. The dimer dissociation energy determined from energy conservation (D₀ = 397 ± 7 cm^-1) is slightly smaller than the previously reported values. The results are discussed in the context of previous observations for (HF)₂ and (HCl)₂ after excitation of HX stretch fundamentals and models for vibrational predissociation.

C-H/π and C-H-O Interactions in Concert: A Study of the Anisole-Methane Complex using Resonant Ionization and Velocity Mapped Ion Imaging

Noncovalent forces such as hydrogen bonding, halogen bonding, π-π stacking, and C-H/π and C-H/O interactions hold the key to such chemical processes as protein folding, molecular self-assembly, and drug-substrate interactions. Invaluable insight into the nature and strength of these forces continues to come from the study of isolated molecular clusters. In this work, we report on a study of the isolated anisole-methane complex, where both C-H/π and C-H/O interactions are possible, using a combination of theory and experiments that include mass-selected two-color resonant two-photon ionization spectroscopy, two-color appearance potential (2CAP) measurements, and velocity mapped ion imaging (VMI). Using 2CAP and VMI, we derive the binding energies of the complex in ground, excited, and cation radical states. The experimental values from the two methods are in excellent agreement, and they are compared with selected theoretical values calculated using density functional theory and ab initio methods. The optimized ground-state cluster geometry, which is consistent with the experimental observations, shows methane sitting above the ring, interacting with anisole via both C-H/π and C-H/O interactions, and this dual mode of interaction is reflected in a larger ground-state binding energy as compared with the prototypical benzene-methane system.

Kinetic energy release distributions from dissociative photoionization of weakly bound trimers at 14-27 eV

The formation of the intriguing ions C4H6O+, C6H6Cl+, and C6H6O+, by dissociative ionization of heterotrimers of butadiene/sulfur dioxide, benzene/hydrogen chloride and benzene/oxygen by 14-27 eV photons, illustrates the possibility that VUV irradiation of clusters comprised of three or more molecules could provide a route to make ions containing bonds not previously accessible. Kinetic energy release distributions were measured in an attempt to understand the formation of these ions and why clusters larger than dimers are needed. Standard theory was applied to find whether more complicated theoretical treatments are needed to understand the data. It was found that all of the above ions were most likely produced by essentially the same mechanism: excitation of one moiety, transfer of its excitation energy to the moiety that dissociates, followed by slow decay of the remaining excited ion into the unexcited moiety as the "solvent" plus the ion with the new bond. The very low reaction probabilities to produce these ions, combined with very low target densities in the presence of many orders of magnitude higher densities of other molecules, precluded the usual imaging techniques. However, we found that the retarding-potential method can give useful data. Also, at present laser photon energies higher than 15 eV provide significantly smaller average intensities than are needed.

Vibrational predissociation and vibrationally induced isomerization of 3-aminophenol-ammonia

We investigate the vibrational predissociation dynamics of the hydrogen-bonded 3-aminophenol-ammonia cluster (3-AP-NH3) in the OH and NH stretching regions. Vibrational excitation provides enough energy to dissociate the cluster into its constituent 3-AP and NH3 monomers, and we detect the 3-AP fragments via (1 + 1) resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI). The distribution of vibrational states of the 3-AP fragment suggests the presence of two distinct dissociation pathways. The first dissociation channel produces a broad, unstructured feature in the REMPI-action spectrum after excitation of any of the OH or NH stretching vibrations, pointing to a nearly statistical dissociation pathway with extensive coupling among the vibrations in the cluster during the vibrational predissociation. The second dissociation channel produces distinct, resolved features on top of the broad feature but only following excitation of the OH or symmetric NH3 stretch in the cluster. This striking mode-specificity is consistent with strong coupling of these two modes to the dissociation coordinate (the O-H⋯N bond). The presence of clearly resolved transitions to the electronic origin and to the 10a(2) + 10b(2) state of the cis-3-AP isomer shows that vibrational excitation is driving the isomerization of the trans-3-AP-NH3 isomer to the cis-3-AP-NH3 isomer in the course of the dissociation.