Molecules, vibrational spectroscopy small, isolated

Spectroscopies with SPMs are being developed rapidly. The ability to study isolated or small structures of adsorbates has allowed incredible insight into the rich chemistry of surfaces, particularly the defining roles that defect-sites play. The recent demonstrations of single molecule vibrational spectroscopies with the STM and NSOM have further opened up new avenues for investigation. 

Photochemically produced small atoms (H, C, N, O, F), co-deposited with matrix-isolated substrates, led to a wide variety of unstable molecules and radicals. This synthetic route is very efficient if the substrate itself acts as a matrix material (O2, CO, CH4). Apart from these reactions, photo-induced decomposition and isomerization processes of matrix-isolated molecules can be studied by vibrational spectroscopy. Photoelimination of small, thermodynamically stable molecules (N2, CO2, CF4, HF,...) from a precursor is the most important photoprocess for generating unstable molecules in low-temperature matrices. Photochemical loss of dinitrogen from azido and diazo compounds is frequently observed in matrices. One example is that of azido halides (Milligan and Jacox, 1964). 

Rotational features of almost aU H-bonded complexes in the gaseous phase appear in the microwave region, with wavenumbers less than 10 cm They correspond to transitions between pure rotational levels, pure meaning that vibrations remain unchanged, or no vibrational transition accompanies such rotational transitions. Rotational features, however, also appear in the IR spectra of these H-bonded complexes. IR bands correspond to transitions between various vibrational levels of a molecule. When this molecule is isolated, as in the gas phase, these transitions are always accompanied by transitions between rotational levels that obey the same selection rules as pure rotational transitions detected in microwave spectroscopy. The information conveyed by these rotational features in IR spectra are therefore most similar to those conveyed by microwave spectra, even if the mechanism at the origin of their appearance is different. Their interests lie in the use of an IR spectrometer, a common instrument in many laboratories, instead of a microwave spectrometer, which is a much more specialized instrament. However, the resolution of usual IR spectrometers are lower than that of microwave spectrometers that use Fabry-Perot cavities. This IR technique has been used in the case of simple H-bonded dimers with relatively small moments of inertia, such as, for instance, F-H- -N C-H (3). Such complexes are far from simple to manipulate, but provide particularly simple IR spectra with a limited number of bands that do not show any overlap. 

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