The nature of the vibronic coupling in a metalloporphyrin and its Raman scattering

It has been shown that a Raman line of a nontotally symmetric vibration (b_1g, b_2g, or a_2g) of a metalloporphyrin (D_4h) can be caused, not only by a vibronic coupling between the first ($\text{A}\text{?}$) and second ($\text{B}\text{?}$) excited electronic states but also by a vibronic coupling within one of the electronic states (let us call the former the QS mechanism and the latter the QQ and/or SS mechanism). A simple formulation has been made for each of those different mechanisms, so that a numerical calculation can be made of the excitation profile of a Raman scattering for a given set of coupling constants and damping factors. Next, the result of an examination is given of the excitation profile of the Raman scatterings of some of the b_1g, b_2g, and a_2g vibrations of nickel octaethylporphyrin and nickel octaethyltetrachloroporphryin. Most of the Raman lines of these nontotally symmetric vibrations show a resonance effect only in the Q-band ($\text{A}\text{?}\text{←}\text{X}\text{?}$) region but not in the Soret-band ($\text{B}\text{?}\text{←}\text{X}\text{?}$) region. On the basis of this fact, it has been suggested that those Raman lines are caused mainly by the QQ mechanism rather than the QS mechanism. The observed vibrational structure of an excitation profile also seems to support this suggestion.