Double photoionisation spectra of small molecules and a new empirical rule for double ionisation energies

Complete double photoelectron spectra are presented for 18 small molecules where the location of charges in the cations and dications is relatively clearly defined. The data demonstrate the importance of a coulombic repulsion contribution to the double ionisation energies. Examination of data for a wide range of molecules leads to a new empirical rule to calculate double ionisation energies from the molecules’ single ionisation energies and maximum dimensions. Where single and double ionisation energies are known the rule allows the deduction of plausible intercharge distances.     

Electronic spectra and structure of 2,4-dihalopicolines and their N-oxides

UV spectra of 2,4-dihalopicolines and their N-oxides are presented, and the influence of substituents on spectral parameters is discussed. The electronic spectra were calculated by a modified INDO method. Transition energies, intensities, and assignments were compared with UV spectra. The degree of intramolecular charge transfer in 2,4-dihalopicolines is greater than in 2-halopicoline N-oxides and smaller than in 2-halo-4-nitropicoline N-oxides. Difference values of HOMO-LUMO energies point out that the susceptibility on photochemical reaction lies in the order: 2-halo-4-nitropicoline N-oxides > 2,4-dihalopicoline N-oxides > 2-halopicoline N-oxides > pyridine N-oxide. Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Economics, PL-53-342 Wroclaw, Poland. Translated from Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, Vol. 34, No. 10, pp. 1352–1366, October, 1999.     

Electronic and cationic states of 2-methylpropene (isobutene) studied by VUV absorption,scattered electron spectroscopy and AB initio multireference configuration interaction calculations

VUV (6.2–9 eV) and electron scattering spectra (1–9 eV) have been recorded for 2-methylpropene (isobutene). Also, electronic states of the molecule, including the ground state and cationic states, have been investigated using ab initio multi-reference configuration interaction calculations. Some Koopmans-type in the UV photoelectron spectrum are reassigned and a number of shake-up states computed. In the electronic spectrum, Rydberg excited have been assigned and a second valence excited state (σ π*) located within about 1 eV of the V(ππ*) state. The experiments show, and theory confirms, that the Rydberg R(π3s) state has a positive electron affinity. Some interesting correlations between ionisation energies, energies of shake-up state electronic excitation energies are identified.     

Valence Ionization Energies of Hydrocarbons

Experimental valence ionisation energies of 143 hydrocarbons, C_nH_m, have been determined from their He (IIα) (40.80 eV) and He (Iα) (21.22 eV) excited photoelectron spectra. Ionization energies, usually up to 26 eV are given in tabular form for 108 hydrocarbons with n≤6, together with their (tentative) assignment. The ionization energies up to approximately 25 eV, of 35 selected hydrocarbons with 7≤n≤10, are presented by means of their He (IIα) photoelectron spectra.     

Electronic spectra and structure of 2-bromopicolines, their N-oxides, and 2-bromo-4-nitropicoline N-oxides

The UV spectra of 2-bromopicolines, their N-oxides, and 2-bromo-4-nitropicoline N-oxides are presented and the influence of substituents onλ _max andε _max of spectral bands are discussed. The electronic spectra were calculated using the modified INDO method. Transition energies, intensities, and assignments were compared with UV spectra. The degree of intramolecular CT in 2-bromopicoline N-oxides is greater than those in 2-bromopicolines and smaller than those in 2-bromo-4-nitropicoline N-oxides. The differences of the HOMO-LUMO energies indicate that the susceptibilities in the photochemical reaction lie in the order: 2-bromo-4-nitropicoline N-oxides>2-bromopicoline N-oxides>2-bromopicolines. Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Economics, PL-53 342 Wroclaw, Poland. Published in Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 2, pp. 197–207, February, 1998.     

The He(II) photoelectron spectra of the fluorosubstituted ethylenes and their analysis by the Green's function method

The 30.4 nm He(II) photoelectron spectra of the fluorosubstituted ethylenes have been recorded. The assignment of all main bands is obtained from many-body Green's function calculations. The results from the semi-empirical HAM/3 method lead to a nearly identical assignment. For the mono- and difluoroethylenes, an unambiguous interpretation of the spectra can be established from empirical considerations alone. The set of spectra has been reexamined with respect to the “perfluoro-effect” rules. Also discussed are the ionisation energies as a function of the geminal FCF bonding angle and the similarity of the spectra of the cis and trans isomers of 1,2-difluoroethylene. Additional weak bands were detected in the energy region 21–24 eV in all spectra and were attributed to “shake-up” transitions on the basis of 2ph-Tamm-Dancoff Green's function calculations. The orbital model of ionisation breaks down for the ionisation out of the F(2s) and C(2s) orbitals in general. The calculations reveal a charge transfer character of the excitations accompanying ionisation from the C(2s) orbitals.     

Electronic states of ketene radical cation

The doublet electronic states of ketene, and ketene-d₂, radical cations produced by photoionisation with Helα (58.4 nm) and Hellα (30.4 nm) radiation, were studied by photoelectron spectroscopy. Seven such states were found below 28 eV ionisation energy and were assigned by comparison with the ionisation energies calculated by the correlated PNO-CEPA approach. The agreement is within ≈ 0.3 eV of the experimental data. An analysis of the contributions of reorganisation and correlation effects to the calculated ionisation energies is presented. The vibrational frequencies exciteα in four of the states of ketene-d₂ and ketene are presented and discussed in view of the assignments.     

Emission spectra of the radical cations of 1,3-dichlorobenzene, 1,4-dichlorobenzene and 1,3,5-trichlorobenzene in the gas phase

Emission spectra of the radical cations of 1,3-dichlorobenzene, 1,4-dichlorobenzene-h₄ (and -d₄), and 1,3,5-trichlorobenzene, excited in the gas phase by controlled electron impact, are presented. The band systems, which lie in the 500–750 nm wavelength region, are attributed to the B?(π^?1) → X?(π^?) electronic transition of the cations on the basis of photoelectron spectroscopic data. The NeI excited photoelectron spectra and the ionisation energies of chloro-,o-,m-,p-dichloro- and 1,3,5-trichlorobenzene have been obtained. The information acquired from the emission and photoelectron spectra is discussed and compiled to deduce the symmetry of the B? states. Emission, with quantum yield > 10^?5, could not be detected with electronically excited radical cations of chloro-,o-dichloro-, 1,2,4- and 1,2,3-trichloro- and tetrachloro-benzenes. This is attributed to the nature of the B? states, which arise by σ^?1 ionisation processes. The lifetimes of the zeroth and some vibrationally excited levels of the B?(π^?1) states were also measured and found to be 22 ± 2 ns for 1,3,5-trichlorobenzene cation and < 6 ns for 1,3- and 1,4-dichlorobenzene cations. The lifetimes of the latter two electronically excited cations are estimated to be two orders of magnitude shorter than 6 ns from the measurement of the relative emission intensities of the B? → B? band systems of the three title cations.     

Photoelectron spectra of quaternary salts in solution

The ionisation energies, measured by He(I) photoelectron spectroscopy, are reported for I^?, Cl^?, Br^?, CNS^? and NO^?₂ in adiponitrile solution. These energies give a straight line when plotted against the energies of the electron transfer to solvent absorption bands of the ions in acetonitrile solution. The intercept gives the electron affinity of the solvent; for acetonitrile, assumed to be spectroscopically equivalent to adiponitrile, the electron affinity is found to be 1.85 eV; for water it is 1.65 eV. The energies of electron transfers not observable in the UV absorption spectrum of NO^?₂ solutions are estimated from the photoelectron spectra.     

Photoelectron spectra of group V compounds. The elements: Sb4

The high-temperature He I photoelectron (PE) spectrum of gaseous Sb₄ is presented and assigned on the basis of the known PE ionisation energies of As₄ and P₄ and from SCC Xa eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Implications for the PE spectra of related antimony compounds are discussed.     

Structures and Spectroscopic Properties of NaAs4 and Its Anions and Cations

The equilibrium geometries, vibrational frequencies, atomization energies, adiabatic electron separations, adiabatic detachment energies （ADE）, and adiabatic ionization potentials of the low-lying electronic states for the NaAs4 clusters and its ions were investigated employing the DFT method, and then compared with the photoelectron spectra. According to the computed results, reasonable assignments for the photoelectron spectra of NaAs4^- were suggested.     

NaP4及其正负离子的结构和光谱性质

用密度泛函理论(DFT)分析了NaP4及其正负离子的低级电子态的平衡结构、振动频率、能量、原子化能、绝热电子亲合能、绝热离子势等, 并与实验所得的阴离子光电子能谱进行比较. 根据计算结果与实验所得的激发能进行比较, 对NaP-4的阴离子光电子能谱中的峰进行了合理的归属.     

Electronic structure of coumarins

The electronic structure of coumarin derivatives has been investigated by a combination of UV photoelectron spectra (UPS), semi-empirical MO calculations and comparison with the spectra of related coumarins. The influence of substituents on the S0 and S1 electronic states energies is discussed.     

Tryptophol cation conformations studied with ZEKE spectroscopy

The relative energies of several conformations of the tryptophol cation are determined by zero kinetic energy (ZEKE) photoelectron spectroscopy and photoionization efficiency measurements. Recently published high-resolution electronic spectroscopy on the neutral species determined the absolute configuration of the different conformers in the S1 spectrum. These assignments are utilized in the photoelectron experiments by pumping through conformer specific S1 resonances yielding ZEKE spectra of the specific, assigned conformations. The adiabatic ionization of one specific conformation is definitively determined, and two others are estimated. The photoelectron spectra, coupled with calculations, reveal that structural changes upon ionization are dominated by interactions of the hydroxyl group with the changes of electronic structure in the aromatic system.     

On the origins of core-electron chemical shifts of small biomolecules in aqueous solution: insights from photoemission and ab initio calculations of glycine(aq)

The local electronic structure of glycine in neutral, basic, and acidic aqueous solution is studied experimentally by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and theoretically by molecular dynamics simulations accompanied by first-principle electronic structure and spectrum calculations. Measured and computed nitrogen and carbon 1s binding energies are assigned to different local atomic environments, which are shown to be sensitive to the protonation/deprotonation of the amino and carboxyl functional groups at different pH values. We report the first accurate computation of core-level chemical shifts of an aqueous solute in various protonation states and explicitly show how the distributions of photoelectron binding energies (core-level peak widths) are related to the details of the hydrogen bond configurations, i.e. the geometries of the water solvation shell and the associated electronic screening. The comparison between the experiments and calculations further enables the separation of protonation-induced (covalent) and solvent-induced (electrostatic) screening contributions to the chemical shifts in the aqueous phase. The present core-level line shape analysis facilitates an accurate interpretation of photoelectron spectra from larger biomolecular solutes than glycine.     

Cyclopentadiene and fulvene,studied by photoelectron spectroscopy and a spindo calculation

The electronic structures of cyclopentadiene and fulvene have been calculated by use of the spectroscopic-potentials-adjusted INDO (SPINDO). The orbital energies agree well with the ionization energies from the photoelectron spectra, which indicates the usefulness of the new procedure. The molecular orbitals are discussed.     

Interpretation of ultraviolet photoelectron spectra by simplified methods

Simplified procedures for the interpretation of ultraviolet photoelectron spectra are surveyed and discussed. It is argued that peaks may be associated with identifiable orbitals and that variations in peak position and shape may be explained by consideration of charge density within a molecule and intramolecular orbital interactions.It is shown that partial charges as well as electronegativity, Taft σ^* functions and other empirical measures of electronic distribution can be correlated with ionization energies in ultraviolet photoelectron spectra. Consideration of band energies, site symmetry and peak intensity helps in the interpretation. Correlation diagrams can be used to facilitate identification if the spectra have been previously recorded.     

Time- and frequency-resolved photoionisation of the allyl radical

We report picosecond time-resolved pump-probe photoelectron spectra of the allyl radical, C3H5, and the fully deuterated allyl, C3D5, carried out in order to elucidate the primary photophysical processes upon UV excitation. It is shown that the UV bands of allyl decay in a two-step process: the first step is an internal conversion to the lower-lying A-state within 20 ps or less, while the second step is a very fast decay from the A-state to the electronic ground state through a conical intersection. In addition we report the first zero kinetic energy (ZEKE) photoelectron spectrum of allyl, yielding an ionisation energy of 65762 cm-1.     

Photoelectron spectroscopy of natural products: terpenes

HeI photoelectron spectra of three terpenes: alpha-pinene, pulegone and cembrene have been measured. The analysis of their electronic structure is based on the comparison of measured spectra with those of related compounds and on the comparison with molecular structures of studied compounds. We discuss changes in ionization energies of C-C double bonds which are situated at different positions along the rings.