RESUMO
We present the fluorescence excitation and dispersed emission spectra of the parent compound of the boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY) dye class measured in a supersonic beam and isolated in superfluid helium nanodroplets. The gas-phase spectrum of the isolated molecules displays many low-frequency transitions that are assigned to a symmetry-breaking mode with a strongly nonharmonic potential, presumably the out-of-plane wagging mode of the BF(2) group. The data are in good agreement with transition energies and Franck-Condon factors calculated for a double minimum potential in the upper electronic state. The corresponding transitions do not appear in the helium droplet. This is explained with the quasi-rigid first layer of helium atoms attached to the dopant molecule by van der Waals forces. The spectral characteristics are those of a cyanine dye rather than that of an aromatic chromophore.
