High-resolution ODMR- and ODNQR spectroscopy of acridine-d9 in its lowest excited triplet state

High-resolution ODMR- and ODNQR spectroscopy have been performed on acridine-d₉ in its photoexcited triplet state. The nuclear quadrupole constants e²qQ/h = −4.36(3) MHz and η = 0.22(1) have been measured for the ¹⁴N nucleus, where the sign of e²qQ/h is determined relative to the signs of the fine structure parameters, D and E. The ¹⁴N ODNQR spectrum, with linewidths as low as 60 kHz, exhibits a satellite structure attributable to the ²D nucleus located at the meso-position in the molecule. For this nucleus |e²qQ/h| = 180(30) kHz may be estimated. The intensity behaviour of the ODNQR transitions as a function of the NMR rf power level leads to a coarse determination of the in-plane components of the ¹⁴N hyperfine tensor with |A_yy^N| 0.2 MHz and |A _yy^N| 4.7 MHz. Owing to accidental overlap of two transitions in the 2E-ODMR spectrum of acridine, the ODNQR technique had to be extended to a five-pulse sequence.