Higher Electronic Excited States of Jet-Cooled Aromatic Hydrocarbon Radicals: 1-phenylpropargyl (C9H7), 1-naphthylmethyl (C11H9), 2-naphthylmethyl (C11H9) and 9-anthracenylmethyl (C15H11) The University of Sydney School of Chemistry Gerard Dean O’Connor Klaas Nauta and Timothy W. Schmidt Molecular Photonics Group | UNSW
The Diffuse Interstellar Bands (DIBs) StarInterstellar MediumEarth
What are the carriers of the DIBs? Amorphous CarbonFullerenesCarbon Chains & Carbenes Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) H2CnH2Cn
Testing the PAH hypothesis: gas phase spectroscopy Resonantly stabilized radicals and their cations ultraviolet spectra visible spectra ultraviolet spectra h h visible spectra
Reilly, N.J; Kokkin, D.L; Masakazu N; Klaas N; Kable, S.H and Schmidt, T.W. (2008). "Spectroscopic Observation of the Resonance-Stabilized 1-Phenylpropargyl Radical J. Am. Chem. Soc DOI: /ja078342t Chalyavi, N; Troy, T.P; Nakajima, M; Gibson, B.A; Nauta, K; Sharp, R.G; Kable, S.H and Schmidt, T.W. (2011) “Excitation and emission spectra of jet-cooled naphthylmethyl radicals.” J. Phys. Chem A, 115 (27), , DOI: /jp203638h O’Connor, G.D; Bacskay, G.B; Woodhouse, G.V.G; Troy T.P; Nauta, K; Schmidt, T.W. (2013) “Excitation Spectra of Large Jet-Cooled Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Radicals: 9-Anthracenylmethyl (C15H11) and 1-Pyrenylmethyl (C17H11)” The Journal of Physical Chemistry A,117(50) DOI: /jp D 1 ← D 0 excitation spectra of jet cooled aromatic radicals in the gas phase
Trends in Larger Resonance Stabilised Radicals 6 D 1 ← D 0 transitions weak (oscillator strength f~10 -4 ) Larger molecules D 1 ← D 0 spectra non-origin dominated
1-PyMe R2C2PI Excitation Spectrum cm -1
Assigned 1-PyMe Excitation Spectrum, low frequency modes 8 80% intensity of origin
9 D0D0 D1D1 DnDn Transition Moments John A. Pople H.C. Longuet-Higgins Longuet-Higgins, H.; Pople, J. Proc. Phys. Soc. Lond. A 1955, 68, 591–600 f~10 -4 f >10 -2
Detector Source Extraction of ions Time-Of- Flight MS Resonant 2-Colour 2-Photon Ionization (R2C2PI) Ionisation continuum +e -
Detector Source Extraction of ions Time-Of- Flight MS Double Resonant Depleation Ionisation continuum d +e - D0D0 D1D1 D3D3
1-phenylpropargyl calculated transitions 12 CASPT2 [6311G(d)] electrons in 9 orbital active space D 3 ← D 0 Vertical excitation energy = cm -1 Oscillator Strength = G.V.G. Woodhouse: Undergraduate Honours Thesis, 2012
D 3 ← D 0 excitation spectrum of 1-phenylpropargyl radical 13 FWHM=149 cm -1 Lifetime = 36 fs Too high in energy to be a DIB
Matrix results of the naphthylmethyl radicals D 1 ← D 0 1&2-npme Nagy, Fulara, and Maier. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 19796– Calculated (by us) to be weak (CASPT2 and TD-B3LYP) We calculate both to be strong (CASPT2 and TD-B3LYP) and assign both to D 3 ← D 0 D 2 ← D 0 2-npme D 3 ← D 0 1&2-npme
D 3 ← D 0 excitation spectra of naphthylmethyl radicals 15 FWHM=290 cm -1 FWHM=292 cm -1 Lifetime = 18 fs Broadest DIB FWHM = 155 cm -1
Ionisation lifetime scan of 9-anthracenylmethyl 16
eV photon energy similar to IE
18 Signal independent of lifetime
Trends in TD-B3LYP vertical excitation energy 19 Benzyl data from: : Porter, G; Wright, FJ; (1955) “PRIMARY PHOTOCHEMICAL PROCESSES IN AROMATIC MOLECULES.3. ABSORPTION SPECTRA OF BENZYL, ANILINO, PHENOXY AND RELATED FREE RADICALS” TRANSACTIONS OF THE FARADAY SOCIETY 51 (11)
9-AnMe Vertical Excitation Energies B3LYP/TD-DFT G(d,p) 20 B3LYP TD-DFT [6311++G(d,p)] (corrected) – 23874(cm -1 ) M06 TD-DFT [6311++G(d,p)] (corrected) – 24229(cm -1 )
D 3 ← D 0 excitation spectrum of 9-anthracenylmethyl radical 21 FWHM=326 cm -1 Lifetime = 16 fs
Trends in TD-B3LYP vertical excitation energy 22
Trend, the energy gap law in action 23
Trends in observed in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon resonance stabilised radicals (PAH RSRs) 24 odd-alternate hydrocarbon radicals D 1 ← D 0 extremely weak (f ≈10 -4 ), with most intensity going to higher energy transition transitions with intensity greater than f ≈10 -2 have been calculated and observed Strong visible transitions of PAH RSRs will be significantly broader then any observed DIBs As these are the transitions most likely to be observed, PAH RSR can be largely dismissed as potential DIB carriers
Acknowledgements 25 Supervisor: Prof Tim Schmidt Co-Workers: Gabrielle Woodhouse Prof Scott Kable Dr Klaas Nauta Dr Tyler Troy Laser Spectroscopy Group UNSW Molecular photonics group