Diatomic resonance Raman spectroscopy

In this paper we will present some examples of the application of resonance Raman spectroscopy to the study of transition metal diatomics. The application of Raman spectroscopy to matrix-isolated metal clusters was first reported by Schulze et al. (] ). Having observed only a single line in the Raman spectrum of Ag3, Schulze concluded that the molecule was linear since a bent triatomic and an equilateral triangular geometry would have, in principle, 3 and 2 Raman-active modes. The evidence, however, is not conclusive since many Czy molecules have very weak asymmetric stretches in the Raman ( ) (for example, the V3 mode of O3 is undetectable in the Raman (3 )). Moreover, the bend (V2) of Ag3 is expected to be a very low-frequency mode, perhaps lower than one can feasibly detect in a matrix Raman experiment. 

Pal B, Kitagawa T. Interactions of soluble guanylate cyclase with diatomics as probed by resonance Raman spectroscopy. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry 2005 99 267-279. 

Diatomic cations, neutral molecules, and anions represent the type of inorganic species which has been most extensively studied by resonance Raman spectroscopy. Iodine in the gaseous, dissolved, and matrix-isolated states has been the subject of particularly detailed studies, and it is this molecule for which the greatest number of members (25) of a resonance Raman progression has so far been observed (66). The relation between resonance Raman and resonance fluorescence spectra has been discussed in Section 2, but it is worth illustrating the general principles involved by reference to the work on iodine. 

Mak PJ, Gregory MC, Sligar SG, Kincaid JR (2014) Resonance Raman spectroscopy reveals that substrate structure selectively impacts the heme-bound diatomic ligands of CYP17. Biochemistry 53 90-100... 

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