The valence electronic structure and momentum-space electron density distributions of ethanol have been investigated with our newly constructed high-resolution electron momentum spectrometer. The measurements are compared to thermally averaged simulations based on Kohn-Sham (B3LYP) orbital densities as well as one-particle Green's function calculations of ionization spectra and Dyson orbital densities, assuming Boltzmann's statistical distribution of the molecular structure over the two energy minima defining the anti and gauche conformers. One-electron ionization energies and momentum distributions in the outer-valence region were found to be highly dependent upon the molecular conformation. Calculated momentum distributions indeed very sensitively reflect the distortions and topological changes that molecular orbitals undergo due to the internal rotation of the hydroxyl group, and thereby exhibit variations which can be traced experimentally. The B3LYP model Kohn-Sham orbital densities are overall in good agreement with the experimental distributions, and closely resemble benchmark ADC(3) Dyson orbital densities. Both approaches fail to quantitatively reproduce the experimental momentum distributions characterizing the highest occupied molecular orbital. Since electron momentum spectroscopy measurements at various electron impact energies indicate that the plane wave impulse approximation is valid, this discrepancy between theory and experiment is tentatively ascribed to thermal disorder, i.e. large-amplitude and thermally induced dynamical distortions of the molecular structure in the gas phase.

The most populated structure of tetrahydrofuran (THF) has been investigated in our previous study using electron momentum spectroscopy (EMS). Because of the relatively low impact energy (600 eV) and low energy resolution (DeltaE = 1.20 eV) in the previous experiment, only the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of THF was investigated. The present study reports the most recent high-resolution EMS of THF in the valence space for the first time. The binding energy spectra of THF are measured at 1200 and 2400 eV plus the binding energies, respectively, for a series of azimuthal angles. The experimentally obtained binding energy spectra and orbital momentum distributions (MDs) are employed to study the orbital responses of the pseudorotation motion of THF. The outer valence Greens function (OVGF), the OVGF/6-311++G** model, and density function theory (DFT)-based SAOP/et-pVQZ model are employed to simulate the binding energy spectra. The orbital momentum distributions (MDs) are produced using the DFT-based B3LYP/aug-cc-pVTZ model, incorporating thermodynamic population analysis. Good agreement between theory and experiment is achieved. Orbital MDs of valence orbitals exhibit only slight differences with respect to the impact energies at 1200 and 2400 eV, indicating validation of the plane wave impulse approximation (PWIA). The present study has further discovered that the orbital MDs of the HOMO in the low-momentum region (p < 0.70 a.u) change significantly with the pseudorotation angle, phi, giving a v-shaped cross section, whereas the innermost valence orbital of THF does not vary with pseudorotation, revealing a very different bonding mechanism from the HOMO. The present study explores an innovative approach to study pseudorotation of sugar puckering, which sheds a light to study other biological systems with low energy barriers among ring-puckering conformations.

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The state-to-state photodissociation of CO2 is investigated in the VUV range of 11.94-12.20 eV by using two independently tunable vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) lasers and the time-sliced velocity-map-imaging-photoion (VMI-PI) method. The spin-allowed CO(X(1)Σ(+); v = 0-18) + O((1)D) and CO(X(1)Σ(+); v = 0-9) + O((1)S) photoproduct channels are directly observed from the measurement of time-sliced VMI-PI images of O((1)D) and O((1)S). The total kinetic energy release (TKER) spectra obtained based on these VMI-PI images shows that the observed energetic thresholds for both the O((1)D) and O((1)S) channels are consistent with the thermochemical thresholds. Furthermore, the nascent vibrational distributions of CO(X(1)Σ(+); v) photoproducts formed in correlation with O((1)D) differ significantly from that produced in correlation with O((1)S), indicating that the dissociation pathways for the O((1)D) and O((1)S) channels are distinctly different. For the O((1)S) channel, CO(X(1)Σ(+); v) photoproducts are formed mostly in low vibrational states (v = 0-2), whereas for the O((1)D) channel, CO(X(1)Σ(+); v) photoproducts are found to have significant populations in high vibrationally excited states (v = 10-16). The anisotropy β parameters for the O((1)D) + CO(X(1)Σ(+); v = 0-18) and O((1)S) + CO(X(1)Σ(+); v = 0-9) channels have also been determined from the VMI-PI measurements, indicating that CO2 dissociation to form the O((1)D) and O((1)S) channels is faster than the rotational periods of the VUV excited CO2 molecules. We have also calculated the excited singlet potential energy surfaces (PESs) of CO2, which are directly accessible by VUV excitation, at the ab initio quantum multi-reference configuration interaction level of theory. These calculated PESs suggest that the formation of CO(X(1)Σ(+)) + O((1)S) photoproducts occurs nearly exclusively on the 4(1)A' PES, which is generally repulsive with minor potential energy ripples along the OC-O stretching coordinate. The formation of CO(X(1)Σ(+)) + O((1)D) photofragments can proceed by non-adiabatic transitions from the 4(1)A' PES to the lower 3(1)A' PES of CO2via the seam of conical intersections at a near linear OCO configuration, followed by the direct dissociation on the 3(1)A' PES. The theoretical PES calculations are consistent with the experimental observation of prompt CO2 dissociation and high rotational and vibrational excitations for CO(X(1)Σ(+)) photoproducts.

We have performed a two-color laser photoionization and photoelectron study of nickel carbide (NiC) and its cation (NiC(+)). By preparing NiC in a single rovibronic level of an intermediate vibronic state via visible laser excitation prior to ultraviolet laser photoionization, we have measured the photoionization efficiency spectrum of NiC near its ionization threshold, covering the formation of NiC(+)(X (2)Sigma(+);v(+)=0-3). We have also obtained well-resolved rotational transitions for the v(+)=0 and 1 vibrational bands of the NiC(+)(X (2)Sigma(+)) ground state. The assignment of rotational transitions observed between the neutral NiC intermediate state and the NiC(+) ion ground state has allowed the direct determination of a highly precise value for the ionization energy of NiC, IE(NiC)=67,525.1+/-0.5 cm(-1) (8.372 05+/-0.000 06 eV). This experiment also provides reliable values for the vibrational spacing [DeltaG(1/2)=859.5+/-0.5 cm(-1)], rotational constants (B(e)(+)=0.6395+/-0.0018 cm(-1) and alpha(e)(+)=0.0097+/-0.0009 cm(-1)), and equilibrium bond distance (r(e)(+)=1.628 A) for the NiC(+)(X (2)Sigma(+)) ground state. The experimental results presented here are valuable for benchmarking the development of more reliable ab initio quantum computation procedures for energetic and spectroscopic calculations of transition metal-containing molecules.