Excitonic splitting and coherent electronic energy transfer in the gas-phase benzoic acid dimer

Journal Article · Wed Nov 28 00:00:00 EST 2012 · Journal of Chemical Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4767400· OSTI ID:22099118

Ottiger, Philipp; Leutwyler, Samuel ^[1]

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1. Departement fuer Chemie und Biochemie, Universitaet Bern, Freiestrasse 3, CH-3012 Bern (Switzerland)

The benzoic acid dimer, (BZA){sub 2}, is a paradigmatic symmetric hydrogen bonded dimer with two strong antiparallel hydrogen bonds. The excitonic S{sub 1}/S{sub 2} state splitting and coherent electronic energy transfer within supersonically cooled (BZA){sub 2} and its {sup 13}C-, d{sub 1}-, d{sub 2}-, and {sup 13}C/d{sub 1}- isotopomers have been investigated by mass-resolved two-color resonant two-photon ionization spectroscopy. The (BZA){sub 2}-(h-h) and (BZA){sub 2}-(d-d) dimers are C{sub 2h} symmetric, hence only the S{sub 2} Leftwards-Arrow S{sub 0} transition can be observed, the S{sub 1} Leftwards-Arrow S{sub 0} transition being strictly electric-dipole forbidden. A single {sup 12}C/{sup 13}C or H/D isotopic substitution reduces the symmetry of the dimer to C{sub s}, so that the isotopic heterodimers (BZA){sub 2}-{sup 13}C, (BZA){sub 2}-(h-d), (BZA){sub 2}-(h{sup 13}C-d), and (BZA){sub 2}-(h-d{sup 13}C) show both S{sub 1} Leftwards-Arrow S{sub 0} and S{sub 2} Leftwards-Arrow S{sub 0} bands. The S{sub 1}/S{sub 2} exciton splitting inferred is {Delta}{sub exc}= 0.94 {+-} 0.1 cm{sup -1}. This is the smallest splitting observed so far for any H-bonded gas-phase dimer. Additional isotope-dependent contributions to the splittings, {Delta}{sub iso}, arise from the change of the zero-point vibrational energy upon electronic excitation and range from {Delta}{sub iso}= 3.3 cm{sup -1} upon {sup 12}C/{sup 13}C substitution to 14.8 cm{sup -1} for carboxy H/D substitution. The degree of excitonic localization/delocalization can be sensitively measured via the relative intensities of the S{sub 1} Leftwards-Arrow S{sub 0} and S{sub 2} Leftwards-Arrow S{sub 0} origin bands; near-complete localization is observed even for a single {sup 12}C/{sup 13}C substitution. The S{sub 1}/ S{sub 2} energy gap of (BZA){sub 2} is {Delta}{sub calc}{sup exc}=11 cm{sup -1} when calculated by the approximate second-order perturbation theory (CC2) method. Upon correction for vibronic quenching, this decreases to {Delta}{sub vibron}{sup exc}=2.1 cm{sup -1} [P. Ottiger et al., J. Chem. Phys. 136, 174308 (2012)], in good agreement with the observed {Delta}{sub exc}= 0.94 cm{sup -1}. The observed excitonic splittings can be converted to exciton hopping times {tau}{sub exc}. For the (BZA){sub 2}-(h-h) homodimer {tau}{sub exc}= 18 ps, which is nearly 40 times shorter than the double proton transfer time of (BZA){sub 2} in its excited state [Kalkman et al., ChemPhysChem 9, 1788 (2008)]. Thus, the electronic energy transfer is much faster than the proton-transfer in (BZA){sub 2}{sup *}.

• OSTI ID: 22099118
• Journal Information: Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 137, Issue 20; Other Information: (c) 2012 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-9606
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
37 INORGANIC
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
APPROXIMATIONS
BENZOIC ACID
CARBON 12
CARBON 13
DIMERS
ELECTRIC DIPOLES
ENERGY GAP
ENERGY TRANSFER
EXCITATION
ISOTOPE EFFECTS
ISOTOPIC EXCHANGE
MOLECULAR STRUCTURE
PERTURBATION THEORY
PHOTOIONIZATION
PROTONS
QUENCHING
SPECTROSCOPY
VIBRATIONAL STATES