Selection mles

Electrons, protons and neutrons and all other particles that have s = are known as fennions. Other particles are restricted to s = 0 or 1 and are known as bosons. There are thus profound differences in the quantum-mechanical properties of fennions and bosons, which have important implications in fields ranging from statistical mechanics to spectroscopic selection mles. It can be shown that the spin quantum number S associated with an even number of fennions must be integral, while that for an odd number of them must be half-integral. The resulting composite particles behave collectively like bosons and fennions, respectively, so the wavefunction synnnetry properties associated with bosons can be relevant in chemical physics. One prominent example is the treatment of nuclei, which are typically considered as composite particles rather than interacting protons and neutrons. Nuclei with even atomic number tlierefore behave like individual bosons and those with odd atomic number as fennions, a distinction that plays an important role in rotational spectroscopy of polyatomic molecules. 

Section BT1.2 provides a brief summary of experimental methods and instmmentation, including definitions of some of the standard measured spectroscopic quantities. Section BT1.3 reviews some of the theory of spectroscopic transitions, especially the relationships between transition moments calculated from wavefiinctions and integrated absorption intensities or radiative rate constants. Because units can be so confusing, numerical factors with their units are included in some of the equations to make them easier to use. Vibrational effects, die Franck-Condon principle and selection mles are also discussed briefly. In the final section, BT1.4. a few applications are mentioned to particular aspects of electronic spectroscopy. 

The electronic selection mles for linear molecules are as follows. AA = 0, + 1. A5 = 0. Again, these are really... 

The rotational selection mle for a transition is A/ = 1. Lines which have J = J" - are called P lines and the set of them is called the P branch of the band. Lines for which J = J + wq called R lines and tlie set of them the R branch. (Although not seen in a transition, a branch with f = f would be called a Q... 

Av = 1 hannonic oscillator selection mle. Furthennore, the overtone intensities for an anhannonic oscillator are obtained in a straightforward maimer by detennining the eigenfiinctions of the energy levels in a hannonic oscillator basis set, and then simnning the weighted contributions from the hannonic oscillator integrals. 

The transition probability R is related to selection mles in spectroscopy it is zero for a forbidden transition and non-zero for an allowed transition. By forbidden or allowed we shall mostly be referring to electric dipole selection mles (i.e. to transitions occurring through interaction with the electric vector of the radiation). 

The rotational energy levels for a prolate and an oblate symmetric rotor are shown schematically in Figure 5.6. Although these present a much more complex picture than those for a linear molecule the fact that the selection mles... 

Although these molecules form much the largest group we shall take up the smallest space in considering their rotational spectra. The reason for this is that there are no closed formulae for their rotational term values. Instead, these term values can be determined accurately only by a matrix diagonalization for each value of J, which remains a good quantum number. The selection mle A/ = 0, 1 applies and the molecule must have a permanent dipole moment. 

This is an identical expression to fhaf for a diatomic or linear polyatomic molecule (Equations 5.11 and 5.12) and, as fhe rofational selection mle is fhe same, namely, AJ = 1, fhe fransifion wavenumbers or frequencies are given by... 

Molecules initially in the J = 0 state encounter intense, monochromatic radiation of wavenumber v. Provided the energy hcv does not correspond to the difference in energy between J = 0 and any other state (electronic, vibrational or rotational) of the molecule it is not absorbed but produces an induced dipole in the molecule, as expressed by Equation (5.43). The molecule is said to be in a virtual state which, in the case shown in Figure 5.16, is Vq. When scattering occurs the molecule may return, according to the selection mles, to J = 0 (Rayleigh) or J = 2 (Stokes). Similarly a molecule initially in the J = 2 state goes to... 

For asymmetric rotors the selection mle inJisAJ = 0, 1, 2, but the fact that K is not a good quantum number results in the additional selection mles being too complex for discussion here. 

It is an important general point that spectroscopic selection mles tell us only whether a transition may occur but tell us nothing about intensities, which may be accidentally zero or very low. 

Equations (6.5) and (6.12) contain terms in x to the second and higher powers. If the expressions for the dipole moment /i and the polarizability a were linear in x, then /i and ot would be said to vary harmonically with x. The effect of higher terms is known as anharmonicity and, because this particular kind of anharmonicity is concerned with electrical properties of a molecule, it is referred to as electrical anharmonicity. One effect of it is to cause the vibrational selection mle Au = 1 in infrared and Raman spectroscopy to be modified to Au = 1, 2, 3,. However, since electrical anharmonicity is usually small, the effect is to make only a very small contribution to the intensities of Av = 2, 3,. .. transitions, which are known as vibrational overtones. 

As for a diatomic molecule, the general harmonic oscillator selection mle for infrared and Raman vibrational transitions is... 

Although we have been able to see on inspection which vibrational fundamentals of water and acetylene are infrared active, in general this is not the case. It is also not the case for vibrational overtone and combination tone transitions. To be able to obtain selection mles for all infrared vibrational transitions in any polyatomic molecule we must resort to symmetry arguments. 

The H2O molecule has no 2 or bi vibrations but selection mles for, say, CH2F2, which has vibrations of all symmetry species, could be applied in an analogous way. 

It is important to remember that selection mles, in general, tell us nothing about transition intensities other than their being zero or non-zero. It is possible that, even though it is nonzero, it may be so small that the transition escapes observation. 

It should also be remembered that the selection mles derived here are relevant to the free molecule and may break down in the liquid or solid state. This is the case, for example, with the electric dipole forbidden 4q transition in ethylene, where V4 is the torsional vibration shown in Figure 6.23. It is not observed in the infrared specttum of the gas but is observed weakly in the liquid and solid phases. 

For a symmetric rotor molecule such as methyl fluoride, a prolate symmetric rotor belonging to the C3 point group, in the zero-point level the vibrational selection mle in Equation (6.56) and the character table (Table A. 12 in Appendix A) show that only... 

A parallel, A —A, band involves rotational transitions between stacks of levels like those in Figure 5.6(a), associated with both A states, and given by Equation (5.32). The selection mles are... 

As in Section 5.2.4 on rotational spectra of asymmetric rotors, we do not treat this important group of molecules in any detail, so far as their rotational motion is concerned, because of the great complexity of their rotational energy levels. Nevertheless, however complex the stack associated with the v = 0 level, there is a very similar stack associated with each excited vibrational level. The selection mles for transitions between the rotational stacks of the vibrational levels are also complex but include... 

In a molecule such as the asymmetric rotor formaldehyde, shown in Figure 5.1(f), the a, b and c inertial axes, of lowest, medium and highest moments of inertia, respectively, are defined by symmetry, the a axis being the C2 axis, the b axis being in the yz plane and the c axis being perpendicular to the yz plane. Vibrational transition moments are confined to the a, b or c axis and the rotational selection mles are characteristic. We call them... 

Whether the molecule is a prolate or an oblate asymmetric rotor, type A, B or C selection mles result in characteristic band shapes. These shapes, or contours, are particularly important in gas-phase infrared spectra of large asymmetric rotors, whose rotational lines are not resolved, for assigning symmetry species to observed fundamentals. 

However complex the atom, we can use the Russell-Saunders coupling approximation (or jj coupling, if necessary) to derive the states that arise from any configuration. The four general selection mles that apply to transitions between these states are as follows. 

Here, even and odd refer to the arithmetic sum over all the electrons and this selection mle is called the Laporte mle. An important result of this is that transitions are forbidden between states arising from the same configuration. For example, of the terms given in Equation (7.18) arising from the configuration of the carbon atom,... 

The total electron density contributed by all the electrons in any molecule is a property that can be visualized and it is possible to imagine an experiment in which it could be observed. It is when we try to break down this electron density into a contribution from each electron that problems arise. The methods employing hybrid orbitals or equivalent orbitals are useful in certain circumsfances such as in rationalizing properties of a localized part of fhe molecule. Flowever, fhe promotion of an electron from one orbifal fo anofher, in an electronic transition, or the complete removal of it, in an ionization process, both obey symmetry selection mles. For this reason the orbitals used to describe the difference befween eifher fwo electronic states of the molecule or an electronic state of the molecule and an electronic state of the positive ion must be MOs which belong to symmetry species of the point group to which the molecule belongs. Such orbitals are called symmetry orbitals and are the only type we shall consider here. 

This result is the same as the infrared vibrational selection mle in Equation (6.55). 

If a degenerate state is involved the = is replaced by D. Very often either the same vibration is excited in both states, in which case and the selection mle is the same as... 

As is the case for diatomic molecules, rotational fine structure of electronic spectra of polyatomic molecules is very similar, in principle, to that of their infrared vibrational spectra. For linear, symmetric rotor, spherical rotor and asymmetric rotor molecules the selection mles are the same as those discussed in Sections 6.2.4.1 to 6.2.4.4. The major difference, in practice, is that, as for diatomics, there is likely to be a much larger change of geometry, and therefore of rotational constants, from one electronic state to another than from one vibrational state to another. 

Diffuorobenzene is a prolate asymmetric rotor and, because the y axis is the b inertial axis, type B rotational selection mles apply. In Figure 7.44(b) is a computer simulation of the... 

Indicate which of the following electronic transitions are forbidden in a diatomic molecule, stating which selection mles result in the forbidden character ... 

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