Vibrational spectroscopy molecule vibration

For the purposes of basic understanding of this branch of optical spectroscopy, molecules can be visualized as a set of weights (the atoms) joined together by springs (the chemical bonds). The atoms can vibrate toward and away from each other, or they may bend at various angles to each other as... 

This spectrum is called a Raman spectrum and corresponds to the vibrational or rotational changes in the molecule. The selection rules for Raman activity are different from those for i.r. activity and the two types of spectroscopy are complementary in the study of molecular structure. Modern Raman spectrometers use lasers for excitation. In the resonance Raman effect excitation at a frequency corresponding to electronic absorption causes great enhancement of the Raman spectrum. 

Infrared Spectroscopy. The infrared spectroscopy of adsorbates has been studied for many years, especially for chemisorbed species (see Section XVIII-2C). In the case of physisorption, where the molecule remains intact, one is interested in how the molecular symmetry is altered on adsorption. Perhaps the conceptually simplest case is that of H2 on NaCl(lOO). Being homo-polar, Ha by itself has no allowed vibrational absorption (except for some weak collision-induced transitions) but when adsorbed, the reduced symmetry allows a vibrational spectrum to be observed. Fig. XVII-16 shows the infrared spectrum at 30 K for various degrees of monolayer coverage [96] (the adsorption is Langmuirian with half-coverage at about 10 atm). The bands labeled sf are for transitions of H2 on a smooth face and are from the 7 = 0 and J = 1 rotational states Q /fR) is assigned as a combination band. The bands labeled... 

There will probably be some similarities, but also some fiindamental differences. We have mainly considered small molecules with relatively rigid structures, in which the vibrational motions, although much different from the low-energy, near-hannonic nonnal modes, are nonedieless of relatively small amplitude and close to an equilibrium stmcture. (An important exception is the isomerization spectroscopy considered earlier, to which we shall return shortly.)... 

Much of the previous section dealt with two-level systems. Real molecules, however, are not two-level systems for many purposes there are only two electronic states that participate, but each of these electronic states has many states corresponding to different quantum levels for vibration and rotation. A coherent femtosecond pulse has a bandwidth which may span many vibrational levels when the pulse impinges on the molecule it excites a coherent superposition of all tliese vibrational states—a vibrational wavepacket. In this section we deal with excitation by one or two femtosecond optical pulses, as well as continuous wave excitation in section A 1.6.4 we will use the concepts developed here to understand nonlinear molecular electronic spectroscopy. 

This is the classic work on molecular rotational, vibrational and electronic spectroscopy. It provides a comprehensive coverage of all aspects of infrared and optical spectroscopy of molecules from the traditional viewpoint and, both for perspective and scope, is an invaluable supplement to this section. 

Stipe B C, Rezaei M A and Flo W 1998 Single-molecule vibrational spectroscopy and microscopy Science 280 1732... 

Gragson D E and Richmond G I 1998 Investigations of the structure and hydrogen bonding of water molecules at liquid surfaces by vibrational sum frequency spectroscopy J. Phys. Chem. 102 3847... 

While a laser beam can be used for traditional absorption spectroscopy by measuring / and 7q, the strength of laser spectroscopy lies in more specialized experiments which often do not lend themselves to such measurements. Other techniques are connnonly used to detect the absorption of light from the laser beam. A coimnon one is to observe fluorescence excited by the laser. The total fluorescence produced is nonnally proportional to the amount of light absorbed. It can be used as a measurement of concentration to detect species present in extremely small amounts. Or a measurement of the fluorescence intensity as the laser frequency is scaimed can give an absorption spectrum. This may allow much higher resolution than is easily obtained with a traditional absorption spectrometer. In other experiments the fluorescence may be dispersed and its spectrum detennined with a traditional spectrometer. In suitable cases this could be the emission from a single electronic-vibrational-rotational level of a molecule and the experimenter can study how the spectrum varies with level. 

Some other extremely iisellil spectroscopic teclmiques will only be mentioned here. Probably the most important one is spectroscopy in free jet expansions. Small molecules have often been studied by gas-phase spectroscopy where sharp rotational and vibrational structure gives detailed iufonnation about molecular... 

Infrared and Raman spectroscopy each probe vibrational motion, but respond to a different manifestation of it. Infrared spectroscopy is sensitive to a change in the dipole moment as a function of the vibrational motion, whereas Raman spectroscopy probes the change in polarizability as the molecule undergoes vibrations. Resonance Raman spectroscopy also couples to excited electronic states, and can yield fiirtlier infomiation regarding the identity of the vibration. Raman and IR spectroscopy are often complementary, both in the type of systems tliat can be studied, as well as the infomiation obtained. 

Both infrared and Raman spectroscopy provide infonnation on the vibrational motion of molecules. The teclmiques employed differ, but the underlying molecular motion is the same. A qualitative description of IR and Raman spectroscopies is first presented. Then a slightly more rigorous development will be described. For both IR and Raman spectroscopy, the fiindamental interaction is between a dipole moment and an electromagnetic field. Ultimately, the two... 

Time-resolved spectroscopy has become an important field from x-rays to the far-IR. Both IR and Raman spectroscopies have been adapted to time-resolved studies. There have been a large number of studies using time-resolved Raman [39], time-resolved resonance Raman [7] and higher order two-dimensional Raman spectroscopy (which can provide coupling infonuation analogous to two-dimensional NMR studies) [40]. Time-resolved IR has probed neutrals and ions in solution [41, 42], gas phase kmetics [42] and vibrational dynamics of molecules chemisorbed and physisorbed to surfaces [44]- Since vibrational frequencies are very sensitive to the chemical enviromnent, pump-probe studies with IR probe pulses allow stmctiiral changes to... 

Vibrational spectroscopy has been, and will continue to be, one of the most important teclmiques in physical chemistry. In fact, the vibrational absorption of a single acetylene molecule on a Cu(lOO) surface was recently reported [ ]. Its endurance is due to the fact that it provides detailed infonnation on structure, dynamics and enviromnent. It is employed in a wide variety of circumstances, from routine analytical applications, to identifying novel (often transient) species, to providing some of the most important data for advancing the understanding of intramolecular and intemiolecular interactions. 

Pibel C D, Sirota E, Brenner J and Dai H L 1998 Nanosecond time-resolved FTIR emission spectroscopy monitoring the energy distribution of highly vibrationally excited molecules during collisional deactivation J. Chem. Phys. 108 1297-300... 

Comprehensive treatment of vibrational spectroscopy, including data for a wide variety of molecules. 

Dumas P, Weldon M K, Chabal Y J and Williams G P 1999 Molecules at surfaces and interfaces studied using vibrational spectroscopies and related techniques Surf. Rev. Lett. 6 225-55... 

Richmond G L 1997 Vibrational spectroscopy of molecules at liquid/liquid interfaces Ana/. Chem. 69 A536-43... 

The second excitation mechanism, impact scattering, involves a short range interaction between the electron and the molecule (put simply, a collision) which scatters the electrons over a wide range of angles. The usefiil feature of impact scattering is that all vibrations may be excited and not only the dipole active ones. As in Raman spectroscopy, the electron may also take an amount of energy hv away from excited molecules and leave the surface with an energy equal to Eq + hv. 

No molecule is completely rigid and fixed. Molecules vibrate, parts of a molecule may rotate internally, weak bonds break and re-fonn. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) is particularly well suited to observe an important class of these motions and rearrangements. An example is tire restricted rotation about bonds, which can cause dramatic effects in the NMR spectrum (figure B2.4.1). 

Molecular clusters are weakly bound aggregates of stable molecules. Such clusters can be produced easily using supersonic expansion, and have been extensively studied by both electronic and vibrational spectroscopy [146,... 

Van der Waals complexes can be observed spectroscopically by a variety of different teclmiques, including microwave, infrared and ultraviolet/visible spectroscopy. Their existence is perhaps the simplest and most direct demonstration that there are attractive forces between stable molecules. Indeed the spectroscopic properties of Van der Waals complexes provide one of the most detailed sources of infonnation available on intennolecular forces, especially in the region around the potential minimum. The measured rotational constants of Van der Waals complexes provide infonnation on intennolecular distances and orientations, and the frequencies of bending and stretching vibrations provide infonnation on how easily the complex can be distorted from its equilibrium confonnation. In favourable cases, the whole of the potential well can be mapped out from spectroscopic data. 

Microwave studies in molecular beams are usually limited to studying the ground vibrational state of the complex. For complexes made up of two molecules (as opposed to atoms), the intennolecular vibrations are usually of relatively low amplitude (though there are some notable exceptions to this, such as the ammonia dimer). Under these circumstances, the methods of classical microwave spectroscopy can be used to detennine the stmcture of the complex. The principal quantities obtained from a microwave spectmm are the rotational constants of the complex, which are conventionally designated A, B and C in decreasing order of magnitude there is one rotational constant 5 for a linear complex, two constants (A and B or B and C) for a complex that is a symmetric top and tliree constants (A, B and C) for an... 

Most infrared spectroscopy of complexes is carried out in tire mid-infrared, which is tire region in which tire monomers usually absorb infrared radiation. Van der Waals complexes can absorb mid-infrared radiation eitlier witli or without simultaneous excitation of intennolecular bending and stretching vibrations. The mid-infrared bands tliat contain tire most infonnation about intennolecular forces are combination bands, in which tire intennolecular vibrations are excited. Such spectra map out tire vibrational and rotational energy levels associated witli monomers in excited vibrational states and, tluis, provide infonnation on interaction potentials involving excited monomers, which may be slightly different from Arose for ground-state molecules. 

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