Non-adiabatic dynamics involving 1 ps* or 1 ns* excited electronic states play a key role in the photochemistry of numerous heteroatom containing aromatic (bio-)molecules. In this contribution, we investigate more exotic phenomena involved in s* mediated dynamics, namely: (i) the role of purely quantum mechanical behavior; and (ii) manipulating non-adiabatic photochemistry through conical intersections (CIs) with 'vibration-specific control'. This is achieved by investigating S-CH 3 bond fission via a

The photofragmentation dynamics of various 4-substituted phenols (4-YPhOH, Y ¼ H, MeO, CH 3 , F, Cl and CN) following p* ) p excitation to their respective S 1 states have been investigated experimentally (by H Rydberg atom photofragment translational spectroscopy) and/or theoretically (by ab initio electronic structure theory and 1-and 2-D tunnelling calculations). Derived energetic and photophysical properties such as the O-H bond strengths, the S 1 -S 0 excitation energies and the S 1 predissociation probabilities (by tunnelling through the barrier under the conical intersection between the S 1 (1 1 pp*) and S 2 (1 1 ps*) potential energy surfaces in the R O-H stretch coordinate) are considered within a Hammett-like framework. The Y-dependent O-H bond strengths and S 1 -S 0 term values are found to correlate well with a simple descriptor of the electronic perturbation caused by the aromatic substituent Y (the Hammett constant, s + p ). We also identify clear correlations between s + p and the probability of a photochemical process (predissociation). Such a finding is unsurprising, given that Y substitution will perturb the entire potential energy landscape, but appears not to have been demonstrated hitherto. The predictive capabilities of this approach are explored by reference to existing energetic data for larger 4-substituted phenols like 4-ethoxyphenol, tyramine, L-tyrosine and tyrosine containing di-and tri-peptides.

We report a combined experimental (H (Rydberg) atom photofragment translational spectroscopy) and theoretical (ab initio electronic structure and vibronic coupling calculations) study of the effects of symmetry on the photodissociation dynamics of phenols. Ultraviolet photoexcitation to the bound S1((1)ππ*) state of many phenols leads to some O-H bond fission by tunneling through the barrier under the conical intersection (CI) between the S1 and dissociative S2((1)πσ*) potential energy surfaces in the R(O-H) stretch coordinate. Careful analysis of the total kinetic energy release spectra of the resulting products shows that the radicals formed following S1 ← S0 excitation of phenol and symmetrically substituted phenols like 4-fluorophenol all carry an odd number of quanta in vibrational mode ν(16a), whereas those deriving from asymmetrically substituted systems like 3-fluorophenol or 4-methoxyphenol do not. This contrasting behavior can be traced back to symmetry. Symmetrically substituted phenols exist in two equivalent rotamers, which interconvert by tunneling through the barrier to OH torsional motion. Their states are thus best considered in the non-rigid G4 molecular symmetry group, wherein radiationless transfer from the S1 to S2 state requires a coupling mode of a2 symmetry. Of the three a2 symmetry parent modes, the out-of-plane ring puckering mode ν(16a) shows much the largest interstate coupling constant in the vicinity of the S1/S2 CI. The nuclear motions associated with ν(16a) are orthogonal to the dissociation coordinate, and are thus retained in the radical products. Introducing asymmetry (even a non-linear substituent in the 4-position) lifts the degeneracy of the rotamers, and lowers the molecular symmetry to Cs. Many more parent motions satisfy the reduced (a'') symmetry requirement to enable S1/S2 coupling, the most effective of which is OH torsion. This motion 'disappears' on O-H bond fission; symmetry thus imposes no restriction to forming radical products with vibrational quantum number v = 0. The present work yields values for the O-H bond strengths in 3-FPhOH and 4-MeOPhOH, and recommends modest revisions to the previously reported O-H bond strengths in other asymmetrically substituted phenols like 3- and 2-methylphenol and 4-hydroxyindole.

The S1( 1 *) state of the (dominant) syn-conformer of 2-chlorophenol (2-ClPhOH) in the gas phase has a sub-picosecond lifetime, whereas the corresponding S1 states of 3-and 4-ClPhOH have lifetimes that are, respectively, ~2 and ~3-orders of magnitude longer. A range of experimental techniques -electronic spectroscopy, ultrafast time-resolved photoion and photoelectron spectroscopies, H Rydberg atom photofragment translational spectroscopy, velocity map imaging and time-resolved Fourier transform infrared emission spectroscopyas well as electronic structure calculations (of key regions of the multidimensional ground (S0) state potential energy surface (PES) and selected cuts through the first few excited singlet PESs) have been used in the quest to explain these striking differences in excited state lifetime. The intramolecular OH ---Cl hydrogen bond specific to syn-2-ClPhOH is key. It encourages partial charge transfer and preferential stabilisation of the diabatic 1 * potential (relative to that of the 1 * state) upon stretching the C-Cl bond, with the result that initial C-Cl bond extension on the adiabatic S1 PES offers an essentially barrierless internal conversion pathway via regions of conical intersection with the S0 PES. Intramolecular hydrogen bonding is thus seen to facilitate the type of heterolytic dissociation more typically encountered in solution studies.3

We report a combination of experimental (velocity map imaging measurements of the methyl (Me) radical products) and ab initio electronic structure studies that explore the influence of substituents (Y) on the dynamics of S-Me bond fission following excitation to the first excited S1 states of thioanisole and three 4-substituted thioanisoles (4-YPhSMe, with Y = H, Me, MeO and CN). In all bar the case that Y = CN, the resulting 4-YPhS products are found to be formed predominantly in their excited (Ã) electronic state. In all cases, the relative yield of X̃ state products increases upon tuning to shorter excitation wavelengths and, in the specific case of bare thioanisole (as found previously by Lim and Kim, Nat. Chem., 2010, 2, 627), jumps when exciting on the parent resonance assigned to the S1(v7a = 1) level. Two conical intersections (CIs) in the RS-Me stretch coordinate are crucial to rationalising all of the observed dynamics. The first, (CI-1, between the diabatic (1)ππ* and dissociative (1)πσ* potential energy surfaces (PESs) at RS-Me∼ 2 Å) lies above the S1(v = 0) level in energy, and the calculated minimum energy path through this barrier involves substantial deviations from planarity in all bar 4-CNPhSMe. Beyond this barrier, the potential is quite steeply repulsive, and Me + 4-YPhS(Ã) products are the inevitable products if the molecular framework is unable to re-planarise within the time it takes for the dissociating molecules to pass through the region of CI-2 (between the diabatic (1)πσ* and ground (S0) states) where the product electronic branching is determined. The gradual increase in the yield of 4-YPhS(X̃) radicals upon tuning to shorter photolysis wavelengths, the much increased branching into PhS(X̃) products when exciting the PhSMe (S1, v7a = 1) level and the dominance of 4-CNPhS(X̃) products in the specific case that Y = CN can all be understood in terms of a (relative) lowering of the effective barrier associated with CI-1, thereby allowing access to the dissociative region of the PES at closer-to-planar geometries.

The photodissociation reaction of N-nitrosopyrrolidine isolated and cooled in a supersonic jet has been studied following excitation to the S(1) and S(2) electronic states. The nascent NO (X[combining tilde] (2)Pi((1/2),3/2), v, j) radicals were ionized by state-selective (1 + 1)-REMPI via the A(2)Sigma(+) state. The angularly resolved velocity distribution of these ions was measured with the velocity-map imaging (VMI) technique. Photodissociation from S(1) produces NO in the vibrational ground state and the pyrrolidine radical in the electronic ground state 1 (2)B. About 73% of the excess energy is converted into kinetic energy of the fragments. The velocity distribution shows a strong negative anisotropy (beta = -0.9) in accordance with the npi*-character of the S(0)--> S(1) transition. An upper limit for the N-NO dissociation energy of (14 640 +/- 340) cm(-1) is determined. We conclude that photodissociation from S(1) occurs very fast on a completely repulsive potential energy surface. Excitation into the S(2)pipi*-state leads to a bimodal velocity distribution. Two dissociation channels can be distinguished which show both positive anisotropy (beta = 1.3 and 1.6) but differ considerably in the total kinetic energy and the rotational energy of the NO fragment. We assign one channel to the direct dissociation on the S(2) potential energy surface, leading to pyrrolidine radicals in the excited electronic state 1 (2)A. The second channel leads to pyrrolidine in the electronic ground state 1 (2)B, presumably after crossing to the S(1) state via a conical intersection.

The photodissociation dynamics of iodocyclohexane has been studied using velocity map imaging following excitation at many wavelengths within its A-band (230 ≤ λ ≤ 305 nm). This molecule exists in two conformations (axial and equatorial), and one aim of the present experiment was to explore the extent to which conformer-specific fragmentation dynamics could be distinguished. Ground (I) and spin-orbit excited (I∗) state iodine atom products were monitored by 2 + 1 resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization, and total kinetic energy release (TKER) spectra and angular distributions derived from analysis of images recorded at all wavelengths studied. TKER spectra obtained at the longer excitation wavelengths show two distinct components, which can be attributed to the two conformers and the different ways in which these partition the excess energy upon C-I bond fission. Companion calculations based on a simple impulsive model suggest that dissociation of the equatorial (axial) conformer preferentially yields vibrationally (rotationally) excited cyclohexyl co-fragments. Both I and I∗ products are detected at the longest parent absorption wavelength (λ ∼ 305 nm), and both sets of products show recoil anisotropy parameters, β > 1, implying prompt dissociation following excitation via a transition whose dipole moment is aligned parallel to the C-I bond. The quantum yield for forming I∗ products, Φ(I∗), has been determined by time resolved infrared diode laser absorption methods to be 0.14 ± 0.02 (at λ = 248 nm) and 0.22 ± 0.05 (at λ = 266 nm). Electronic structure calculations indicate that the bulk of the A-band absorption is associated with transition to the 4A(') state, and that the (majority) I atom products arise via non-adiabatic transfer from the 4A(') potential energy surface (PES) via conical intersection(s) with one or more PESs correlating with ground state products.

Excitation of tert-butylnitrite into the first and second UV absorption bands leads to efficient dissociation into the fragment radicals NO and tert-butoxy in their electronic ground states 2 P and 2 E, respectively. Velocity distributions and angular anisotropies for the NO fragment in several hundred rotational and vibrational quantum states were obtained by velocity-map imaging and the recently developed 3D-REMPI method. Excitation into the well resolved vibronic progression bands (k = 0, 1, 2) of the NO stretch mode in the S 1 ' S 0 transition produces NO fragments mostly in the vibrational state with v = k, with smaller fractions in v = k À 1 and v = k À 2. It is concluded that dissociation occurs on the purely repulsive PES of S 1 without barrier. All velocity distributions from photolysis via the S 1 (np*) state are monomodal and show high negative anisotropy (b E À1). The rotational distributions peak near j = 30.5 irrespective of the vibronic state S 1 (k) excited and the vibrational state v of the NO fragment. On average 46% of the excess energy is converted to kinetic energy, 23% and 31% remain as internal energy in the NO fragment and the t-BuO radical, respectively. Photolysis via excitation into the S 2 ' S 0 transition at 227 nm yields NO fragments with about equal populations in v = 0 and v = 1. The rotational distributions have a single maximum near j = 59.5. The velocity distributions are monomodal with positive anisotropy b E 0.8. The average fractions of the excess energy distributed into translation, internal energy of NO, and internal energy of t-BuO are 39%, 23%, and 38%, respectively. In all cases B8500 cm À1 of energy remain in the internal degrees of freedom of the t-BuO fragment. This is mostly assigned to rotational energy. An ab initio calculation of the dynamic reaction path shows that not only the NO fragment but also the t-BuO fragment gain large angular momentum during dissociation on the purely repulsive potential energy surface of S 2 .