Coherent motion of excited state cyclic ketones: the have and the have-nots

Martin Alex Bjørn Larsen, Anne Boutrup Stephansen, Theis Ivan Sølling

Abstract

The internal conversion processes of four cyclic ketones; cyclopentanone, 2-methylcyclopentanone, 3-methylcyclopentanone and cyclohexanone are investigated by Velocity Map Imaging (VMI) photoelectron spectroscopy. A 201 nm pump accesses the second excited state (n,3s) and the ultrafast dynamics is mapped by subsequent ionization with a 350 nm probe. Three of the four investigated molecular systems show an oscillatory time-dependence in the peak position of the 3s photoelectron band, while the last one simply decays exponentially. We find that the most plausible reason for the absence of the oscillation is due to high structural similarity between the excited state and the ionic state along the active coordinate.

Original languageEnglish
JournalChemical Physics Letters
Volume683
Pages (from-to)495-499
Number of pages5
ISSN0009-2614
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2017

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