Structural and photochemical properties of organosilver reactive intermediates MeAg2(+) and PhAg2(+).

Although there is growing interest in silver promoted carbon-carbon bond formation, a key challenge in developing robust and reliable organosilver reagents is that thermal and photochemical decomposition reactions can compete with the desired coupling reaction. These undesirable reactions have been poorly understood due to complications arising from factors such as solvent effects and aggregation. Here the unimolecular decomposition reactions of organosilver cations, RAg(2)(+), where R = methyl (Me) and phenyl (Ph), are examined in the gas phase using a combination of mass spectrometry based experiments and theoretical calculations to explore differences between thermal and photochemical decompositions. Under collision-induced dissociation conditions, which mimic thermal decomposition, both PhAg(2)(+) and MeAg(2)(+) fragment via formation of Ag(+). The new ionic products, RAg(+•) and Ag(2)(+•), which arise via bond homolysis, are observed when RAg(2)(+) is subject to photolysis using a UV-vis tunable laser OPO. Furthermore, comparisons between the theoretical and experimental UV-vis spectra allow us to unambiguously determine the most stable structures of PhAg(2)(+) and MeAg(2)(+) and to identify the central role of the silver part in the optical absorption of these species. The new photoproducts result from fragmentation in electronic excited states. In particular, potential energy surface calculations together with the fragment charges highlight the role of triplet states in these new fragmentation schemes.

Synthesis and Spectroscopic Characterization of Diphenylargentate, [(C6H5)2Ag](.).

We present the structural and optical properties of the isolated diphenylargentate anion, which has been synthesized by multistage mass spectrometry in a quadrupole ion trap. The experimental photodetachment spectrum has been obtained by action spectroscopy. Comparison with quantum chemical calculations of the electronic absorption spectrum allows for a precise characterization of the spectroscopic features, showing that in the low-energy regime, the optical properties of diphenylargentate bear a significant resemblance to those of atomic silver.

Ultrafast excited state dynamics of the Na3F cluster: quantum wave packet and classical trajectory calculations compared to experimental results.

Short-time, excited-state dynamics of the lowest isomer of the Na(3)F cluster is studied theoretically in order to interpret the features of recent time-resolved pump-probe ionization experiments [J. M. L'Hermite, V. Blanchet, A. Le Padellec, B. Lamory, and P. Labastie, Eur. Phys. J. D 28, 361 (2004)]. In the present paper, we propose an identification of the vibrational motion responsible for the oscillations in the ion signal, on the basis of quantum mechanical wave packet propagations and classical trajectory calculations. The good agreement between experiment and theory allows for a clear interpretation of the detected dynamics.

Different approaches for the calculation of electronic excited states of nonstoichiometric alkali halide clusters: the example of Na3F.

The electronic structure and excited states of the Na(3)F cluster are investigated using different approximate, but numerically efficient, computational schemes, such as a 2e hybrid quantum/classical pseudopotential model with full-configuration interaction or time-dependent density-functional theory. Various quantities such as geometries and transition energies are compared with results previously obtained by multireference configuration interaction calculations, taken as reference data. The potential energy surfaces of the lowest excited states are investigated and the finite-temperature absorption spectra are calculated. The good agreement with recent beam experiments [J.-M. L'Hermite, V. Blanchet, A. Le Padellec, B. Lamory, and P. Labastie, Eur. Phys. J. D 28, 361 (2004)] leads to the conclusion that the absorption spectrum observed experimentally corresponds to the lowest energy isomer which has a C(2v) planar rhombic geometry.