Temperature dependence vibrational state mechanisms

Fig. 9. Incidence energy dependence of the vibrational state population distribution resulting when NO(u = 12) is scattered from LiF(OOl) at a surface temperature of (a) 480 K, and (b) 290 K. Relaxation of large amplitude vibrational motion to phonons is weak compared to what is possible on metals. Increased relaxation at the lowest incidence energies and surface temperatures are indicators of a trapping/desorption mechanism for vibrational energy transfer. Angular and rotational population distributions support this conclusion. Estimations of the residence times suggest that coupling to phonons is significant when residence times are only as long as ps. (See Ref. 58.)...

To determine static properties of the SeO radical in KDP and DKDP, the temperature dependence of the hyperfine interaction between unpaired electron and Se (I = 1/2) nucleus was measured [53]. The hyperfine tensor component A, where the direction is along the c-axis, shows an isotope effect, because its value is higher in DKDP than in KDP. Furthermore, its value shows a jump at Tc for DKDP and a considerable temperature dependence in the PE phase of both crystals, approximated by the relation A (T) = A (0) - B coth(ro/T), where To 570 K for both crystals. It is interesting to note that A, similarly to the As NQR frequency and P isotropic chemical shift, should be constant in the PE phase if the two-state order-disorder mechanism of the corresponding tetrahedron holds. However, while the temperature dependencies of the As NQR frequency and P isotropic chemical shift in the PE phase were explained as originating from a six-state order-disorder mechanism [42] and additional displacive mechanism [46], respectively, here it was assumed that excitation of some extra lattice vibration mode with frequency Tq affects the hyperfine tensor components and causes the temperature dependence of A. ... 

The lifetime (Ti) of a vibrational mode in a polyatomic molecule dissolved in a polyatomic solvent is, at least in part, determined by the interactions of the internal degrees of freedom of the solute with the solvent. Therefore, the physical state of the solvent plays a large role in the mechanism and rate of VER. Relaxation in the gas phase, which tends to be slow and dominated by isolated binary collisions, has been studied extensively (11). More recently, with the advent of ultrafast lasers, vibrational lifetimes have been measured for liquid systems (1,4). In liquids, a solute molecule is constantly interacting with a large number of solvent molecules. Nonetheless, some systems have been adequately described by isolated binary collision models (5,12,13), while others deviate strongly from this type of behavior (14-18). The temperature dependence of VER of polyatomic molecules in liquid solvents can show complex behavior (16-18). It has been pointed out that a change in temperature of a liquid solute-solvent system also results in a change in the solvent s density. Therefore, it is difficult to separate the influences of density and temperature from an observed temperature dependence. 

In certain cases, the classical Marcus formula is not sufficient to explain the observed-dependence of the electron transfer rate on temperature or AG, which could indicate that it is necessary to use a Franck-Condon term in which the contribution of the nuclei is treated in quantum mechanical terms. In this treatment, the Franck-Condon term equals the thermally-weighted sum of the contributions from all possible vibrational states of the reactants, each multiplied by their Franck-Condon factor i.e. the square of the overlap integral of a nuclear wave function of the reactant with the nuclear wave function of the product state that has the same total energy. 

Despite its utility at room temperature, simple Marcus theory cannot explain the DeVault and Chance experiment. All Marcus reactions have a conspicuous temperature dependence except in the region close to where AG = —A. Marcus theory does not predict that a temperature-dependent reaction will shift to a temperature-independent reaction as the temperature is lowered. Hopfield proposed a quantum enhancement of Marcus theory that would permit the behavior seen in the experiment [11]. He introduced a characteristic frequency of vibration hco) that is coupled to electron transfer, in other words, a vibration that distorts the nuclei of the reactant to resemble the product state. This quantum expression includes a hyperbolic cotangent (Coth) term that resembles the Marcus expression at higher temperatures, but becomes essentially temperature independent at lower temperatures. Other quantized expressions, such as a full quantum mechanical simple harmonic oscillator behavior [12] and that of Jortner [13], give analogous temperature behavior. 

At present, the model of solid-state chemical reactions suggested in the literature [48-50] has won certain recognition. McKinnon and Hurd [152] and Siebrand and co-workers [153] compare the mechanism of rate constant temperature dependence by the occupation of the highest vibrational sub-levels of the tunneling particle to that of fluctuation preparation of the barrier the latter Siebrand et al. is preferred. [153] particularly emphasize the experimental proof of the linear dependence of the rate constant logarithm on the temperature predicted by this model. The importance of an account for intermolecular vibrations in the problem of heavy-particle tunneling [48-50] is also noted elsewhere [103]. 

An alternative model, the hot-band mechanism, found support in studies of the temperature dependence of NVET rates in stilbene sensitization.114,115 In this model, thermal population of vibrational modes of the ground-state acceptor is assumed to provide access to geometries near to the relaxed excited state, as depicted in Figure 2.20. It is supported by the fact that energy differences between triplet donors are reflected almost entirely in the activation entropy rather than in the activation enthalpy, as would be expected from Balzani s treatment. 

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