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Sergei A Trushin

Publications and source records attributed to Sergei A Trushin.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Coherent oscillation and ultrafast internal conversion of tetrafluoroethene after excitation at 197 nm.

C2F4 was excited by using a 150 fs pulse in its longest-wavelength band to the Rydberg (3 s) state and then probed by photoionization techniques at 810 nm. The molecule relaxes in two consecutive steps (time constants 29 and 118 fs), probably via the pipi* state, which is lowered in energy by stretching and twisting the C=C bond. A coherent oscillation (350 fs) was found, which we assign to an overtone of the twist vibration (47.6 cm(-1)) in this state. we also conclude that dissociation to singlet and some triplet CF2 only takes place in the hot ground state of C2F4, from where also the C2F4 triplet state is populated. The potentials and their conical intersections are discussed with respect to relaxation and dissociation, including also some new considerations of thermal processes.

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Ultrafast temporary charge transfer in pyrrolidinyl-benzonitrile and pyrrolyl-benzonitrile in the gas phase.

4-(N-pyrrolidinyl)benzonitrile and 4-(N-pyrrolyl)benzonitrile were excited by an ultrashort pulse at 270 nm to their La (S2) states and then probed by ionization at long wavelengths. Parent and fragment ion signals show components with time constants < 100 fs which we attribute to ultrafast relaxation to the Lb (S1) state. From this short time we infer a conical intersection between the Lb and La surfaces. The wave packet can branch there, one part going temporarily to a strongly displaced state. Its shift was concluded from an anisotropy observed only there. The only excited state known to have a large displacement is the charge-transfer (CT) state. The positive anisotropy indicates that the CT state belongs to the 2A species for both molecules. For pyrrolylbenzonitrile, this is in contrast to previous assignments. The anisotropy, and a coherent oscillation observed in pyrrolidinylbenzonitrile, support the idea that the amino-group twist is an important component of the CT reaction coordinate.

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Ultrafast [2 + 2]-cycloaddition in norbornadiene.

Excitation of norbornadiene (bicyclo[2.2.1]hepta-2,5-diene) at 200 nm populates two states in parallel, the second pi(pi*) state and a Rydberg state. We monitored both populations by transient nonresonant ionization. From the pi(pi*) state the molecule relaxes in consecutive steps with time constants 5, 31 and 55 fs down to the ground-state surface, whereas the Rydberg population merges to the other path on the pi(pi*) surface within 420 fs. The relaxation steps are discussed in terms of conical intersections (CoIns) between different surfaces Information on them is inferred from known spectroscopy and, for the last CoIn, from published calculations on Dewar benzene-->prismane conversion and on ethylene photodimerization for which norbornadiene with its two nonconjugated double bonds is a model. The calculation predicts symmetry breaking for this CoIn, the two ethylenes forming a rhombus Although this distortion is hindered in norbornadiene by ring strain, this CoIn seems easily accessible as indicated by the short time (<55 fs) found for passing through it.

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Ultrafast charge transfer via a conical intersection in dimethylaminobenzonitrile.

The L(a)-like S2 state (2A) of 4-(dimethylamino)benzonitrile was pumped at 267 nm in the gas phase at 130 degrees C. Nonresonant multiphoton ionization at 800 nm with mass-selective detection then probed the subsequent processes. Whereas ionization at the Franck-Condon geometry only gave rise to the parent ion, fragmentation increased on motion towards the charge-transfer (CT) state. This useful difference is ascribed to a geometry-dependent resonance in the ion. The time constants found are interpreted by ultrafast (approximately 68 fs) relaxation through a conical intersection to both the CT and the L(b)-type S1 state (1B). Then the population equilibrates between these two states within 1 ps. From there the molecule relaxes within 90 ps to a lower excited state which can only be a triplet state (T(n)) and then decomposes within 300 ps. Previous experiments either investigated only 1B --> CT relaxation-which does not take place in the gas phase or nonpolar solvents for energetic reasons--or, starting from S2 excitation, typically had insufficient time resolution (>1 ps) to detect the temporary charge transfer. Only recently temporary population of the CT state was found in a nonpolar solvent (Kwok et al., J. Phys. Chem. A. 2000, 104, 4188), a result fully consistent with our mechanism. We also show that S2 --> S1 relaxation does not occur vertically but involves an intermediate strong geometrical distortion, passing through a conical intersection.

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