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The biological activity of the macrocycle nonactin is intimately related to its ionophore properties and ability to act as a selective cation carrier. The competitive binding of small protonated amines constitutes a particularly key issue in the biochemistry of nonactin, which finds application in sensing and extraction technologies. In this study, isolated complexes of nonactin with ammonium and hydroxylammonium are investigated with infrared action spectroscopy and quantum chemical computations. The focus of the investigation is on the coordination achieved by the protonated guest with the oxygen atoms of either the oxolane groups or the carboxyl groups in the ester linkages of the macrocyle host and their relative contributions to the stability of the complexes. The experimental and computational data converge to a preferred coordination arrangement associated with a tight binding of the N—Hδ+ bonds with the oxolane groups. In the NH4+ complex, this results in a compact complex of S4 symmetry. In contrast, symmetry is disrupted in the NH3OH+ complex, as it incorporates a bifurcated coordination of the —OH bond with a carbonyl group and an oxolane group of the host, involving also a more stretched arrangement of the nonactin backbone. These gas-phase conformations are in agreement with the structures postulated for these complexes in condensed phases, from previous Raman and crystallographic experiments.The biological activity of the macrocycle nonactin is intimately related to its ionophore properties and ability to act as a selective cation carrier. The competitive binding of small protonated amines constitutes a particularly key issue in the biochemistry of nonactin, which finds application in sensing and extraction technologies. In this study, isolated complexes of nonactin with ammonium and hydroxylammonium are investigated with infrared action spectroscopy and quantum chemical computations. The focus of the investigation is on the coordination achieved by the protonated guest with the oxygen atoms of either the oxolane groups or the carboxyl groups in the ester linkages of the macrocyle host and their relative contributions to the stability of the complexes. The experimental and computational data converge to a preferred coordination arrangement associated with a tight binding of the N—Hδ+ bonds with the oxolane groups. In the NH4+ complex, this results in a compact complex of S4 symmetry. In contr...

Fully rotationally resolved spectra of the two lowest-frequency bands the origin (00 0 ) and the inversion (140 1) band! of the S1(n p*)AS0 transition of jet-cooled (Trot'6 K) acetaldehyde, CH3CHO, have been recorded with a resolution of '0.01 cm21 using a pulsed dye amplified continuous wave cw! laser. In modeling the spectra a nonperturbative solution of the rotational– torsional coupling problem was used, but the torsion–inversion and the rotation–inversion couplings were neglected. All the lines of the origin band were reproduced with a model using the same rotational–torsional Hamiltonian for the ground- and excited electronic state. The inversion band could not be described with this model, since the ordering of the torsional levels in the excited state is reversed. The measured spectrum was reproduced by using a rigid asymmetric rotor Hamiltonian for the two torsional levels in the excited state. Some rotational levels of 00 and 141 states were found to be shifted from their predicted energy values. These shifts were explained by an accidental resonance between the excited singlet level and some higher rovibronic triplet level. The relative intensities of the ab-type and c-type torsional subbands and the Herzberg–Teller– induced transition dipole moment direction, characterizing the ab-type subband, were determined by an intensity fit.

It is experimentally demonstrated that a narrow band continuous wave (cw) light source can be used in combination with a high-finesse optically stable cavity to perform sensitive, high-resolution direct absorption and optical rotation spectroscopy in an amazingly simple experimental setup, using ideas from the field of cavity ring down spectroscopy. Light from a scanning narrow band cw laser is coupled into the cavity via accidental coincidences of the laser frequency with the frequency of one of the multitude of modes of the cavity. The absorption and polarization rotation information is extracted from a measurement of the time-integrated light intensity leaking out of the cavity as a function of laser wavelength.

The rotationally resolved ultraviolet (UV) excitation spectra of the S1(1Lb)←S0 origin bands of 3-methylindole and 5-methylindole have been measured and analyzed. As a result of an internal rotation of the methyl group, each spectrum consists of rotational lines of overlapping 0a1←0a1 and 0e←0e torsional transitions. Like indole, 3-methylindole and 5-methylindole undergo axis reorientation upon electronic excitation. The Hamiltonian used to describe all observed spectral features includes a pure rotational part, a pure torsional part, and terms describing the interaction between the internal rotation and the overall rotation. It also accounts for the axis reorientation effect. Values for the barrier heights of the methyl torsion, the angle of the methyl top axis with the inertial axes, and the rotational constants are obtained for both the S0 and the S1 state. From an analysis of the intensities of the rotational transitions, the direction of the transition moment and the axis reorientation angle are obta...

Two different techniques were applied to measure the lifetime of the lowest rotational levels in the metastable a3π1(v=0) state of CO. First, measurement of the absolute absorption cross-section for several absorption lines of the a(v=0)←X(v=0) transition yields an Einstein coefficient of A0,0=97±3 s−1. In combination with the experimentally determined branching ratios for the a→X transition, the lifetime of each component of the a3π1 Λ-doublet is determined to be 3.67±0.20 ms. Second, detection of the spin-forbidden fluorescence at two positions in the molecular beam downstream from the excitation region, as a function of velocity of the molecules directly probes the exponential decay. With this technique the lifetime of the lower component of the samea3π1(v=0,J=1) Λ-doublet is determined to be 3.4±0.4 ms, while for the upper component a value of 3.8±0.5 ms is found.

Fluorescence excitation spectroscopy at both vibrational and rotational resolution has been used to probe the changes in energy, electronic distribution, and geometry that occur when 1‐aminonaphthalene (1AN) absorbs light at ∼332 nm. The 000 band of the S1←S0 transition of 1AN is red shifted by nearly 2000 cm−1 with respect to the corresponding band of naphthalene. Additionally, it is mainly b‐axis polarized, unlike the corresponding bands of naphthalene and other 1‐substituted naphthalenes. Thus, 1La/1Lb state reversal occurs on 1‐substitution of naphthalene with an NH2 group. The S0 state of 1AN is pyramidally distorted at the nitrogen atom. Additionally, the NH2 group is rotated by ∼20° about the C–NH2 bond. Excitation of 1AN to the zero‐point vibrational level of its S1 state reduces the C–NH2 bond length by ∼0.2 A and flattens the NH2 group along both out‐of‐plane coordinates. Other vibronic bands in the S1←S0 transition exhibit significantly different rotational constants, inertial defects, and tran...

The S1←S0 000 transitions of phenol and the hydrogen bonded phenol(H2O)1 cluster have been studied by high resolution fluorescence excitation spectroscopy. All lines in the monomer spectrum are split by 56±4 MHz due to the internal rotation of the −OH group about the a axis. The barrier for this internal motion is determined in the ground and excited states; V2″=1215 cm−1, and V2′=4710 cm−1. The rotational constants for the monomer in the ground state are in agreement with those reported in microwave studies. The excited state rotational constants were found to be A′=5313.7 MHz, B′=2620.5 MHz, and C′=1756.08 MHz. The region of the redshifted 000 transition of phenol(H2O)1 shows two distinct bands which are 0.85 cm−1 apart. Their splitting arises from a torsional motion which interchanges the two equivalent H atoms in the H2O moiety of the cluster. This assignment was confirmed by spin statistical considerations. Both bands could be fit to rigid rotor Hamiltonians. Due to the interaction between the overal...

Rotationally resolved laser induced fluorescence excitation spectra of the S1(1Lb)←S0 origin bands of indole, indazole, and benzimidazole have been measured. From these spectra, the rotational constants in both electronic states have been determined. The spectra of all three molecules exhibit ‘‘anomalous’’ rotational line intensities. These intensity perturbations are a result of the reorientation, upon electronic excitation, of the inertial axes of the molecule. Intensity analysis of the rotational lines yielded information about the inertial axis reorientation, and the direction of the transition moment vector for each molecule.

We report on modifications made to a Paul-type quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer and discuss its application in infrared ion spectroscopy experiments. Main modifications involve optical access to the trapped ions and hardware and software coupling to a variety of infrared laser sources at the FELIX infrared free electron laser laboratory. In comparison to previously described infrared ion spectroscopy experiments at the FELIX laboratory, we find significant improvements in efficiency and sensitivity. Effects of the trapping conditions of the ions on the IR multiple photon dissociation spectra are explored. Enhanced photo-dissociation is found at lower pressures in the ion trap. Spectra obtained under reduced pressure conditions are found to more closely mimic those obtained in the high-vacuum conditions of an Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer. A gas-mixing system is described enabling the controlled addition of a secondary gas into helium buffer gas flowing into the trap and allows for ion/molecule reactions in the trap. The electron transfer dissociation (ETD) option of the mass spectrometer allows for IR structure characterization of ETD-generated peptide dissociation products.

Contains fulltext : 33124.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) We report the observation at high resolution of seven vibronic bands that appear within similar to200 cm(-1) of the electronic origin in the S-1-S-0 fluorescence excitation spectrum of 4,4(')-dimethylaminobenzonitrile (DMABN) in a molecular beam. Surprisingly, each band is found to be split into two or more components by a (coordinated) methyl group tunneling motion which significantly complicates the analysis. Despite this fact, high quality [(Observed-Calculated)less than or equal to30 MHz] fits of each of the bands have been obtained, from which the rotational constants, inertial defects, torsion-rotation interaction constants, methyl group torsional barriers, and transition moment orientations of DMABN in both electronic states have been determined. The data show that DMABN is a slightly pyramidalized (similar to1degrees) but otherwise (heavy-atom) planar molecule in its ground S-0 state, and that its electronically excited S-1 state has both a more pyramidalized (similar to3degrees) and twisted (similar to25degrees) dimethylamino group. Large reductions in the methyl group torsional barriers also show that the S-1