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Title: BH{sub 2} revisited: New, extensive measurements of laser-induced fluorescence transitions and ab initio calculations of near-spectroscopic accuracy

Journal Article · · Journal of Chemical Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4919094· OSTI ID:22415738
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Department of Chemistry and Physics, Franklin College, Franklin, Indiana 46131 (United States)
  2. Department of Chemistry, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942 (Jordan)
  3. Dipartimento di Chimica Industriale “Toso Montanari,” Università di Bologna, Viale Risorgimento 4, 40136 Bologna (Italy)

The spectroscopy of gas phase BH{sub 2} has not been explored experimentally since the pioneering study of Herzberg and Johns in 1967. In the present work, laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) spectra of the A{sup ~} {sup 2}B{sub 1}(Π{sub u})−X{sup ~2}A{sub 1} band system of {sup 11}BH{sub 2}, {sup 10}BH{sub 2}, {sup 11}BD{sub 2}, and {sup 10}BD{sub 2} have been observed for the first time. The free radicals were “synthesized” by an electric discharge through a precursor mixture of 0.5% diborane (B{sub 2}H{sub 6} or B{sub 2}D{sub 6}) in high pressure argon at the exit of a pulsed valve. A total of 67 LIF bands have been measured and rotationally analyzed, 62 of them previously unobserved. These include transitions to a wide variety of excited state bending levels, to several stretch-bend combination levels, and to three ground state levels which gain intensity through Renner-Teller coupling to nearby excited state levels. As an aid to vibronic assignment of the spectra, very high level hybrid ab initio potential energy surfaces were built starting from the coupled cluster singles and doubles with perturbative triples (CCSD(T))/aug-cc-pV5Z level of theory for this seven-electron system. In an effort to obtain the highest possible accuracy, the potentials were corrected for core correlation, extrapolation to the complete basis set limit, electron correlation beyond CCSD(T), and diagonal Born-Oppenheimer effects. The spin-rovibronic states of the various isotopologues of BH{sub 2} were calculated for energies up to 22 000 cm{sup −1} above the X{sup ~} (000) level without any empirical adjustment of the potentials or fitting to experimental data. The agreement with the new LIF data is excellent, approaching near-spectroscopic accuracy (a few cm{sup −1}) and has allowed us to understand the complicated spin-rovibronic energy level structure even in the region of strong Renner-Teller resonances.

OSTI ID:
22415738
Journal Information:
Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 142, Issue 17; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-9606
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English