Single-Color Isomer-Resolved Spectroscopy

Abstract

Structural isomers, such as conformers or tautomers, are
of significant importance across chemistry and biology, as they can have
different functionalities. In gas-phase experiments using molecular
beams, formation of many different isomers cannot be prevented, and
their presence significantly complicates the assignment of spectral lines.
Current isomer-resolved spectroscopic techniques heavily rely on
theoretical calculations or make use of elaborate double-resonance
schemes. We show here that isomer-resolved spectroscopy can also be
performed using a single tunable laser. In particular, we demonstrate
single-color isomer-resolved spectroscopy by utilizing electrostatic
deflection to spatially separate the isomers. We show that for 3-
aminophenol we can spatially separate the syn and anti conformers and
use these pure samples to perform high-resolution REMPI spectroscopy, making the assignment of transitions to a particular isomer trivial, without any additional a priori information. This approach allows one to add isomer specificity to any molecular-beam-based experiment.

Links

• https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpca.2c02277
• doi:10.1021/acs.jpca.2c02277

BibTeX (Download)

@article{abmaSinglecolorIsomerresolvedSpectroscopy2022,
title = {Single-Color Isomer-Resolved Spectroscopy},
author = {Grite L. Abma and Dries Kleuskens and Siwen Wang and Michiel Balster and Andre Roij and Niek Janssen and Daniel A. Horke},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpca.2c02277},
doi = {10.1021/acs.jpca.2c02277},
year  = {2022},
date = {2022-06-01},
urldate = {2022-06-01},
journal = {The Journal of Physical Chemistry A},
volume = {126},
pages = {3811\textendash3815},
abstract = {Structural isomers, such as conformers or tautomers, are
of significant importance across chemistry and biology, as they can have
different functionalities. In gas-phase experiments using molecular
beams, formation of many different isomers cannot be prevented, and
their presence significantly complicates the assignment of spectral lines.
Current isomer-resolved spectroscopic techniques heavily rely on
theoretical calculations or make use of elaborate double-resonance
schemes. We show here that isomer-resolved spectroscopy can also be
performed using a single tunable laser. In particular, we demonstrate
single-color isomer-resolved spectroscopy by utilizing electrostatic
deflection to spatially separate the isomers. We show that for 3-
aminophenol we can spatially separate the syn and anti conformers and
use these pure samples to perform high-resolution REMPI spectroscopy, making the assignment of transitions to a particular isomer trivial, without any additional a priori information. This approach allows one to add isomer specificity to any molecular-beam-based experiment.},
keywords = {Control, electrostatic deflector, experimental design, Isomer-effects},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}