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Title: Silyl group internal rotation in [ital S][sub 1] phenylsilane and phenylsilane cation: Experiments and [ital ab] [ital initio] calculations

Journal Article · · Journal of Chemical Physics; (United States)
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.466079· OSTI ID:6024094
;  [1]
  1. Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 (United States)

Resonant two-photon ionization (R2PI) and pulsed field ionization (PFI) were used to measure [ital S][sub 1]--[ital S][sub 0] and cation--[ital S][sub 1] spectra of internally cold phenylsilane. We measure the adiabatic ionization potentials IP(phenylsilane)=73 680[plus minus]5 cm[sup [minus]1], IP(phenylsilane [center dot]Ar)=73 517[plus minus]5 cm[sup [minus]1] and IP(phenylsilane [center dot]Ar[sub 2])=73 359[plus minus]5 cm[sup [minus]1]. We assign many low lying torsion--vibration levels of the [ital S][sub 1] ([ital [tilde A]] [sup 1][ital A][sub 1]) state and of [ital [tilde X]] [sup 2][ital B][sub 1] of phenylsilane[sup +]. In both states, the pure torsional transitions are well fit by a simple sixfold hindered rotor Hamiltonian. The results for the rotor inertial constant [ital B] and internal rotation potential barrier [ital V][sub 6] are, in [ital S][sub 1], [ital B]=2.7[plus minus]0.2 cm[sup [minus]1] and [ital V][sub 6]=[minus]44[plus minus]4 cm[sup [minus]1]; in the cation, [ital B]=2.7[plus minus]0.2 cm[sup [minus]1] and [ital V][sub 6]=+19[plus minus]3 cm[sup [minus]1]. The sign of [ital V][sub 6] and the conformation of minimum energy are inferred from spectral intensities of bands terminating on the 3[ital a][sup [double prime]][sub 1] and 3[ital a][sup [double prime]][sub 2] torsional levels. In [ital S][sub 1] the staggered conformation is most stable, while in the cation ground state the eclipsed conformation is most stable. For all sixfold potentials whose absolute phase is known experimentally, the most stable conformer is staggered in the neutral states ([ital S][sub 0] and [ital S][sub 1] [ital p]-fluorotoluene, [ital S][sub 1] toluene, [ital S][sub 1] [ital p]-fluorotoluene) and eclipsed in the cationic states (ground state toluene[sup +] and phenylsilane[sup +]).

DOE Contract Number:
FG02-92ER14306
OSTI ID:
6024094
Journal Information:
Journal of Chemical Physics; (United States), Vol. 99:6; ISSN 0021-9606
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English