The temperature dependence of the collisional quenching of highly vibrationally excited pyrazine by CO2 molecules has been investigated for the temperature range 243–364 K using high resolution time resolved diode laser spectroscopy. Particular emphasis is placed on vibration to rotation-translation (V→R/T) energy transfer which leaves the CO2 vibrations unexcited and occurs predominantly through short-range repulsive forces. Vibrationally hot pyrazine is prepared by 248 nm excimer laser pumping, followed by rapid radiationless transitions to the ground electronic state. For the range of experimental cell temperatures used here, the nascent rotational population distributions of the 0000 ground state of CO2 resulting from collisions with hot pyrazine were probed at short times following excitation of pyrazine by the excimer laser pulse. The CO2 translational recoil velocity was also measured for individual rotational levels of the 0000 state. In addition, temperature dependent rate constants and probabilities were determined for energy transfer from the vibrationally hot pyrazine into individual rotational levels of the 0000 state of CO2. The rotational distributions, velocity recoils, and quenching rates exhibit a very weak temperature dependence for production of CO2 high J states, indicating that the CO2 molecules involved in these energy transfer events originate from rotational levels only slightly greater than the thermal mean J value. Based on these results, values for ΔE, the energy transfer from hot pyrazine to CO2 resulting in final CO2 0000 states J=58 through J=82, are estimated to range from 2550 to 7090 cm−1 in a single collision.

The positioning and directed assembly of semiconductor nanowires (NWs) is of considerable current interest for “bottom-up” approaches to the engineering of intricate structures from nanoscale building blocks. We report a horizontal growth mode for ZnO NWs on the (112¯0) sapphire surface in which NWs grow in the [11¯00]sap direction. This growth mode strictly depends on the size and spacing of the Au nanodroplet catalysts and competes with the vertical growth of the NWs. An approach is presented which promotes the horizontal growth, in situ alignment, and predictable positioning of ZnO NWs. This strategy allows for the large scale assembly of NWs, width control, and production of quantum wires.

Translational and rotational excitation of the CO 2 (00 0 0) vibrationless state in the collisional quenching of highly vibrationally excited perfluorobenzene: Evidence for impulsive collisions accompanied by large energy transfers Classical trajectory calculations of the rate of collisional energy transfer between a bath gas and a highly excited polyatomic method, and the average energy transferred per collision, as functions of the bath gas translational energy and temperature, are reported. The method used is that of Lim and Gilbert [J. Phys. Chem. 94, 72 (1990)], which requires only about 500 trajectories for convergence, and generates extensive data on the collisional energy transfer between Xe and azulene, as a function of temperature, initial relative translational energy (E T)' and azulene initial internal energy (E'). The observed behavior can be explained qualitatively in terms of the Xe interacting in a chattering collision with a few substrate atoms, with the collision duration being much too brief to permit ergodicity but with a general tendency to transfer energy from hotter to colder modes (both internal and translational). At thermal energies, trajectory and experimental data show that the root-mean-squared energy transfer per collision, (ali 2) 112, is relatively less dependent on E' than the mean energy transfer (ali). The calculated temperature dependence is weak: (AE 2) 112 0:: To. 3 , corresponding to (AE down) 0:: To. 23 • Values for the calculated average rotational energy transferred per collision (data currently only available from trajectories, and required for falloff calculations for radical-radical and ion-molecule reactions) are of the order of k B T, and similar to those for the internal energy; there is extensive collision-induced internal-rotational energy transfer. The biased random walk "model B," as discussed in text, is found to be in accord with much of the trajectory data and with experiment. This suggests that energy transfer is through pseudorandom mUltiple interactions between the bath gas and a few reactant atoms; the "kick" given by the force at the turning point of each atom-atom encounter governs the amount of energy transferred. Moreover, a highly simplified version of this model explains why average energies transferred per collision for simple bath gases have the order-of-magnitude values seen experimentally, an explanation which has not been provided hitherto.

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While the fluorescence decay kinetics of tyrosine model compounds [Laws, W. R., Ross, J. B. A., Wyssbrod, H. R., Beechem, J. M., Brand, L., & Sutherland, J. C. (1986) Biochemistry 25, 599-607] and the tyrosine residue in oxytocin [Ross, J. B. A., Laws, W. R., Buku, A., Sutherland, J. C., & Wyssbrod, H. R. (1986) Biochemistry 25, 607-612] can be explained in terms of heterogeneity derived from the three ground-state chi 1 rotamers, a similar correlation has yet to be directly observed for a tryptophan residue. In addition, the asymmetric indole ring might also lead to heterogeneity from chi 2 rotations. In this paper, the time-resolved and steady-state fluorescence properties of [tryptophan2]oxytocin at pH 3 are presented and compared with 1H NMR results. According to the unrestricted analyses of individual fluorescence decay curves taken as a function of emission wavelength and a global analysis of these decay curves for common emission wavelength-independent decay constants, only three exponential terms are required. In addition, the preexponential weighting factors (amplitudes) have the same relative relationship (weights) as the 1H NMR-determined chi 1 rotamer populations of the indole side chain. 15N was used in heteronuclear coupling experiments to confirm the rotamer assignments. Inclusion of a linked function restricting the decay amplitudes to the chi 1 rotamer populations in the individual decay curve analyses and in the global analysis confirms this correlation. According to qualitative nuclear Overhauser data, there are two chi 2 populations. Depending upon the degree of correlation between chi 2 and chi 1, there may be from three to six side-chain conformations for the tryptophan residue. The combined fluorescence and NMR results are consistent with a rotamer model in which either (i) the chi 2 rotations are fast compared to the fluorescence intensity decay of the tryptophan residue, (ii) environmental factors affecting fluorescence intensity decay properties are dominated by chi 1 interactions, or (iii) the chi 2 and chi 1 rotations are highly correlated.