RESUMO
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) play an important role in interstellar chemistry and are subject to high energy photons that can induce excitation, ionization, and fragmentation. Previous studies have demonstrated electronic relaxation of parent PAH monocations over 10-100 femtoseconds as a result of beyond-Born-Oppenheimer coupling between the electronic and nuclear dynamics. Here, we investigate three PAH molecules: fluorene, phenanthrene, and pyrene, using ultrafast XUV and IR laser pulses. Simultaneous measurements of the ion yields, ion momenta, and electron momenta as a function of laser pulse delay allow a detailed insight into the various molecular processes. We report relaxation times for the electronically excited PAH*, PAH+* and PAH2+* states, and show the time-dependent conversion between fragmentation pathways. Additionally, using recoil-frame covariance analysis between ion images, we demonstrate that the dissociation of the PAH2+ ions favors reaction pathways involving two-body breakup and/or loss of neutral fragments totaling an even number of carbon atoms.
RESUMO
The structural preferences within a series of dibenzofuran-solvent complexes have been investigated by electronic, vibrational, and rotational spectroscopic methods probing supersonic jet expansions. The experimental study is accompanied by a detailed theoretical analysis including dispersion-corrected density functional theory, symmetry adapted perturbation theory, as well as coupled cluster approaches. The complementary, multi-spectroscopic results reveal a preferred OHO structure for the smallest complex of dibenzofuran-water, whereas for the methanol complex an OHπ isomer is simultaneously observed. For the largest complex, dibenzofuran-tert-butyl alcohol, only a π-bound structure is found. These comprehensive investigations show that a completely inverse trend regarding the docking preference is observed by comparing the present results with the ones for analogous diphenyl ether complexes. This can be rationalized on the basis of the planarity/non-planarity and rigidity/flexibility of the different systems, providing valuable insight into the interplay between different non-covalent interactions. This analysis is a further step towards a quantitative description of very delicate energetic balances with the overall goal of yielding reliable structural predictions for non-covalently bound systems.
