Low-energy vibrational spectra of flexible diphenyl molecules: biphenyl, diphenylmethane, bibenzyl and 2-, 3- and 4-phenyltoluene.

Gas phase absorption far-infrared (FIR) spectra of six flexible hydrocarbon molecules containing two phenyl groups -biphenyl, diphenylmethane, bibenzyl and 2-, 3-, 4-phenyltoluene- are reported for the first time, allowing an accurate determination of most of their active low-frequency vibrational modes. DFT calculations have been carried out at the harmonic and perturbative anharmonic levels to predict the vibrational spectra of these molecules and unambiguously assign observed vibrational modes.

Intramolecular Processes Revealed Using UV-Laser-Induced IR-Fluorescence: A New Perspective on the "Channel Three" of Benzene.

Radiative relaxation in the infrared (IR) is common following nonradiative electronic relaxation processes, but it is rarely measured. We present ultraviolet laser-induced infrared fluorescence (UV-LIIRF) excitation spectroscopy and dispersed UV-LIIRF spectroscopy of gas phase benzene vibronically excited around the onset of channel 3, using a homemade spectrometer. We found that the vibrational IR fluorescence yield is clearly higher when benzene is excited above the onset than when it is excited below. Significant changes in dispersed IR emission profiles resulting from excitations below and above the onset of channel 3 were also observed. These results suggest that isomerization of benzene toward fulvene occurs efficiently below the opening of channel 3 and confirm that channel 3 involves a photophysical relaxation pathway that efficiently competes with isomerization.

High resolution far-infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy of radicals at the AILES beamline of SOLEIL synchrotron facility.

Experimental far-infrared (FIR) spectroscopy of transient species (unstable molecules, free radicals, and ions) has been limited so far in both emission and absorption (mainly by the low probability of spontaneous emission in that spectral range and the low brightness of continuum sources used for absorption measurements, respectively). Nevertheless, the FIR spectral range recently became of high astrophysical relevance thanks to several new observational platforms (HERSCHEL, ALMA...) dedicated to the study of this region suitable for the detection of the emission from cold objects of the interstellar medium. In order to complete the experimental dataset concerning transient species, three discharge experiments dedicated to the recording of high resolution FIR spectra of radicals have been developed at the Advanced Infrared Line Exploited for Spectroscopy (AILES) which extracts the bright FIR synchrotron continuum of the synchrotron facility SOLEIL. These experiments make use of a high resolution (R = 0.001 cm(-1)) Bruker IFS125 Fourier transform (FT) spectrometer. An emission setup (allowing to record spectra of radicals excited at high rotational and vibrational temperatures) and two absorption setups (exploiting the bright synchrotron source at the highest resolution available on the FT) are alternatively connected to the FT. The advantages and limitations of these techniques are discussed on the basis of the recent results obtained on OH and CH radicals. These results constitute the first FIR spectra of radicals using synchrotron radiation, and the first FIR spectrum of a C-bearing radical using FT-spectroscopy.

Temperature and anharmonic effects on the infrared absorption spectrum from a quantum statistical approach: application to naphthalene.

A method is developed to calculate the finite-temperature infrared absorption spectrum of polyatomic molecules with energy levels described by a second-order Dunham expansion. The anharmonic couplings are fully incorporated in the calculation of the quantum density of states, achieved using a Wang-Landau Monte Carlo procedure, as well as in the determination of transition energies. Additional multicanonical simulations provide the microcanonical absorption intensity as a function of both the absorption wavelength and the internal energy of the molecule. The finite-temperature spectrum is finally obtained by Laplace transformation of this microcanonical histogram. The present scheme is applied to the infrared spectrum of naphthalene, for which we quantify the shifting, broadening, and third-order effects as a continuous function of temperature. The influence of anharmonicity and couplings is manifested on the nontrivial variations of these features with increasing temperature.

Gas-phase electronic spectra of two substituted benzene cations: phenylacetylene+ and 4-fluorostyrene+.

The visible spectra of phenylacetylene+ and 4-fluorostyrene+ have been measured by laser photodissociation spectroscopy. The observed vibronic systems were assigned to the B2A'' <-- X2A'' and C2B1 <-- X2B1 electronic transition in the 4-fluorostyrene+ and phenylacetylene+ cations, respectively. Two methods were employed and compared: a resonant multiphoton dissociation scheme of the bare cations and a resonant photodissociation technique applied to the chromophore+-argon n=1,2 ionic complexes. The latter approach allowed the intrinsic profile to be resolved, revealing different intramolecular dynamical behavior. Their electronic relaxation has been rationalized in terms of an apparent energy gap law for the benzene derivative cations.

Theoretical rates for the emission of atomic hydrogen from a naphthalene cation.

The statistical phase space theory (PST) in its orbital transition state version has been used to calculate the dissociation rate associated with the loss of atomic hydrogen from a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecule. The PST model has been applied to the naphthalene cation with input data obtained exclusively from first-principle calculations using density functional theory. Without any fitting parameters, the calculated dissociation rates are found to agree well with available measurements. The effects of vibrational anharmonicities are investigated and are shown to lower the dissociation rates by a factor of about five.