Are the changes in the lifetime of the excited uranyl ion of chemical or physical nature?

By use of time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence and of basic spectrophotometric methods, we have studied the effects of water/perchloric acid mixtures (up to 12 M), NaClO₄ in water/perchloric acid mixtures and triflic acid (diluted or pure) on the absorption and emission spectra and on the lifetime of the uranyl ion in liquid solutions. Models proposed in order to explain similar results in the case of various elements are discussed. It is shown that the main effect remains largely unexplained, as none of the previously proposed models is able to recover the data without severe contradictions. The two best models, chemical equilibrium or energy transfer, were tentatively modified in order to unravel the inconsistencies pointed out; however, it was not possible to reconcile our data with models based on chemical reactions including ionic strength effects. A model of internal conversion leads to an approximative mathematical treatment, and the quality of the fit is not perfect. Finally, the data may indicate that a complexation of uranyl with perchlorate ion occurs above 4.5 M. The association of HClO₄ and triflic acid are observed at very high concentrations.     

高氯酸溶液中激发态铀酰离子的发光衰减研究

本文以氮分子激光器为激发光源,研究了激发铀酰离子在高氯酸溶液中的发光衰减和时间分辨发光光谱.铀酰离子的发光衰减与铀浓度以及溶液的pH有关,当铀浓度Cu<10^-^3mol.dn^-^3时,溶液pH为1.5-4.0范围内,发光呈单一指数衰减;当Cu≥10^3^-mol.dm^-^3时,发现发光呈双指数衰减,即除了上述发光组份外,还观察到另一发光寿命较长的组份.用时间分辨方法测得的铀酰溶液的发光光谱表明,上述现象与激发态水合铀酰离子及其水解产物形成的发光体有关.     

On the ordering of the first two excited electronic states in all-trans linear polyenes

Reported experimental evidence of the relative position of the first two excited electronic states in linear polyenes was carefully examined and compared with that derived from time dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) theoretical calculations performed at the B3LYP level on optimized geometries. The energy values for the first two triplet states 3Bu and 3Ag, obtained from TDDFT calculations, were found to be highly strongly correlated with the experimental values. Also, the theoretical calculations for the electronic transition 1 1Ag --> 1 1Bu were also extremely well correlated with their experimental counterparts; even more important, the three reported experimental data for 1 1Ag --> 2 1Ag transitions in these systems conformed to the correlation for the TDDFT 1 1Ag --> 1 1Bu transition. The first excited electronic state in the linear polyenes studied (from ethene to the compound consisting of 40 ethene units, P40) was found to be 1Bu. The energy gap between the excited states 2 1Ag and 1 1Bu decreased with increasing length of the polyene chain, but not to the extent required to cause inversion, at least up to P40. In the all-trans linear polyenes studied, the widely analyzed energy gap from the ground electronic state to the first excited singlet state for infinitely long chains may be meaningless as, even in P40, it is uncertain whether the ground electronic state continues to be a singlet.     

On the coordination symmetry of the hydrated uranyl ion

The literature indicates a four-fold or six-fold coordination symmetry for UO²⁺₂ in aqueous solution. However, the uranyl ion in crystalline UO₂(ClO₄)₂·7H₂O has been found by X-ray diffraction to be coordinated by five water molecules. From the MCD of aqueous UO₂(ClO₄)₂·nH₂O we have found evidence for five-fold coordination. A tentative assignment for the excited states in the visible spectrum is also proposed.     

On the internal rotations in p-cresol in its ground and first electronically excited states

The overall rotation and internal rotation of p-cresol (4-methyl-phenol) has been studied by comparison of the microwave spectrum with accurate ab initio calculations using the principal axis method in the electronic ground state. Both internal rotations, the torsions of the methyl and the hydroxyl groups relative to the aromatic ring, have been investigated. The internal rotation of the hydroxyl group can be approximately described as the motion of a symmetrical rotor on an asymmetric frame. For the methyl group it has been found that the potential barrier hindering its internal rotation is very small with the first two nonvanishing Fourier coefficients of the potential V(3) and V(6) in the same order of magnitude. Different splittings of b-type transitions for the A and E species of the methyl torsion indicate a top-top interaction between both internal rotors through the benzene ring. An effective coupling potential for the top-top interaction could be estimated. The hindering barriers of the hydroxyl and methyl rotation have been calculated using second-order Moller-Plesset perturbation theory and the approximate coupled-cluster singles-and-doubles model (CC2) in the ground state and using CC2 and the algebraic diagrammatic construction through second order in the first electronically excited state. The results are in excellent agreement with the experimental values.     

On the electronically excited states of uracil

Vertical excitation energies in uracil in the gas phase and in water solution are investigated by the equation-of-motion coupled-cluster and multireference configuration interaction methods. Basis set effects are found to be important for converged results. The analysis of electronic wave functions reveals that the lowest singlet states are predominantly of a singly excited character and are therefore well described by single-reference equation-of-motion methods augmented by a perturbative triples correction to account for dynamical correlation.Our best estimates for the vertical excitation energies for the lowest singlet n --> pi* and pi --> pi* are 5.0 +/- 0.1 eV and 5.3 +/- 0.1 eV, respectively. The solvent effects for these states are estimated to be +0.5 eV and +/- 0.1 eV, respectively. We attribute the difference between the computed vertical excitations and the maximum of the experimental absorption to strong vibronic interaction between the lowest A" and A' states leading to intensity borrowing by the forbidden transition.     

On the nature of excited electronic states in cyanine dyes: implications for visual pigment spectra

CNDO/S CI calculations are carried out on polyenes and on cyanine dyes. In contrast to polyenes, doubly excited configurations have a strong effect on the first optically allowed excited state in cyanines. Protonated Schiff bases of retinal are closely related to cyanine dyes, with important consequences for models of visual pigment spectra and photochemistry.     

Chemical features and nature of excited states in silicon oxides

Analysis of thermal emission activity of silicon oxides with respect to oxygen showed that electronically excited molecules of singlet oxygen make up the main fraction in the gas samples. The negative linear correlation between the specific activity and specific surface area of the samples points to volume localization of labile structural fragments. High-resolution vibrational and electronic spectroscopy revealed isolated Si-O oscillators, dimeric and trimeric oxygen associates, as well as Si-Si bonds in the ground and electronically excited states in the structure of isolated oscillators. Calculation and published data gave evidence for the possibility of dark initiation of redox transformations accompanied by formation of excited states.     

On the calculation of energies of excited states

We reformulate a scheme for calculation of the energies of excited states which, unlike the variation method, does not require that the trial function be orthogonalized to the wavefunctions for lower excited states. The possibility of obtaining wavefunctions as well as energies is discussed, and an example of the scheme's application is made to the harmonic oscillator.

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Zusammenfassung Es wird eine neue Form für eine Methode zur Berechnung von angeregten Zuständen gegeben. Die Probefunktion braucht nicht wie bei der Variationsmethode orthogonal zu den Wellenfunktionen der tiefer liegenden Zuständen zu sein. Es wird die Möglichkeit diskutiert, Wellenfunktionen ebenso wie Energien zu erhalten. Das Schema wird auf den harmonischen Oszillator angewandt.

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Resume On donne une nouvelle forme pour une methode de calcul des niveaux excités. La methode ne demande pas l'orthogonalisation de la fonction d'essai par rapport aux fonctions d'onde correspondant aux niveaux inférieurs, ce qui montre un avantage auprès de la methode variationnelle. La possibilité d'obtenir les fonctions d'onde elles-mêmes est discutée, et on donne un exemple de l'application de cette nouvelle methode.

     

On the valence excited states of conjugated dienes

Electron impact spectroscopic results are reported for the lowest-energy A_g and B_u valence excited states of several conjugated dienes. In all cases, the B_u state was found to lie below the A_g state. The B_u state of the s-cis compounds was found to be ≈ 0.5 eV lower in energy than that of the s-trans compounds. Correlations of these results with those obtained for several s-trans and s-cis polyenes leads to a new possible interpretation of the state observed below the B_u state in intermediate length polynes.     

Electronically excited states of water clusters of 7-azaindole: structures, relative energies, and electronic nature of the excited states

The geometries of 1H-7-azaindole and the 1H-7-azaindole(H(2)O)(1-2) complexes and the respective 7H tautomers in their ground and two lowest electronically excited pi-pi(*) singlet states have been optimized by using the second-order approximated coupled cluster model within the resolution-of-the-identity approximation. Based on these optimized structures, adiabatic excitation spectra were computed by using the combined density functional theory/multireference configuration interaction method. Special attention was paid to comparison of the orientation of transition dipole moments and excited state permanent dipole moments, which can be determined accurately with rotationally resolved electronic Stark spectroscopy. The electronic nature of the lowest excited state is shown to change from L(b) to L(a) upon water complexation.     

On the lower excited electronic states of glyoxal

The polarization of both nπ* absorption bands of glyoxal has been measured in a glass matrix of 2-methyltetrahydrofuran by the photoselection method. The second absorption band in the 30 000 cm^?1 region has been assigned to a ¹A_g → ¹B_g nπ* transition. Its intensity is mainly induced by interaction with the solvent. An absorption band at about 43 000 cm^?1 has been ascribed to a charge transfer transition in complexes of glyoxal and 2-MTHF.     

On the lower excited electronic states of biacetyl

An ab initio SCF and CI study has been carried out for the ground and electronically excited states of biacetyl (CH₃COCOCH₃). The second absorption band in the 4.40 eV region has been assigned to a ¹A_g → ¹B_g nπ^* transition The character of the lower-lying states has been analyzed in terms of the CI wavefunctions.     

The nature of molecular excited states produced by weak light sources

It is shown that upon excitation of a molecule by light from a thermal source, the incident field tends to act as a projection operator for a subspace spanned by eigenstates of the molecular hamiltonian. Furthermore, for chaotic light sources there is an effective upper limit, τ, for the time during which there is coherent excitation. If τ is much greater than the uncertainty minimum, as is normally the case, the reduced density operator for the excited states of the molecule becomes “filtered”, the extent of which determines the pattern of subsequent radiative and radiationless decay processes. The limitation of the “filtering” process to the interval τ provides a new distinction for large- and small-molecule behavior.     

Ground and first excited states of fractionally charged sodium atoms

The energy levels in sodium atoms with quarks attached to the nucleus are obtained using the configuration interaction method. It is found that the calculated 3p (²P) → 3s (²S) electronic transition in the Na^?1/3 quark–atom system is in agreement with that predicted by extrapolation of experimental data. Also, ionization potentials of fractionally charged sodium atoms are discussed. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Semiempirical NDDO/MC calculations of the excited states of the chromate ion

A new semiempirical method of calculating the excited states of transition metal complexes is developed. This technique uses the configuration interaction and semiempirical NDDO/MC methods to obtain the ground state of a set of Slater type valence spd-orbitals chosen from the optical spectra of transition metals together with the corresponding core integrals. The method is tested in calculations of the electronically excited states of the chromate ion. Good agreement with the experimental energies of vertical transitions and the results of ab initio calculations is achieved.     

On the first excited state of137Ba

The first excited state of¹³⁷Ba has been excited by the inelastic scattering of accelerator-produced neutrons. The energy of this state at 283.5 keV is not in agreement with the generally accepted value of 279.2 keV, but is in accord with other recent measurements. No evidence for a doublet of states near this energy is found.