Relaxation dynamics of open-shell cations studied by photoelectron—photon coincidence spectroscopy

We report a theoretical investigation and elucidation of the x-ray absorption spectra of neutral benzene and of the benzene cation. The generation of the cation by multiphoton ultraviolet (UV) ionization as well as the measurement of the carbon K-edge spectra of both species using a table-top high-harmonic generation (HHG) source are described in the companion experimental paper [M. Epshtein et al., J. Phys. Chem. A., submitted. Available on ChemRxiv]. We show that the 1sC -> pi transition serves as a sensitive signature of the transient cation formation, as it occurs outside of the spectral window of the parent neutral species. Moreover, the presence of the unpaired (spectator) electron in the pi-subshell of the cation and the high symmetry of the system result in significant differences relative to neutral benzene in the spectral features associated with the 1sC ->pi* transitions. High-level calculations using equation-of-motion coupled-cluster theory provide the interpretation of the experimental spectra and insight into the electronic structure of benzene and its cation. The prominent split structure of the 1sC -> pi* band of the cation is attributed to the interplay between the coupling of the core -> pi* excitation with the unpaired electron in the pi-subshell and the Jahn-Teller distortion. The calculations attribute most of the splitting (~1-1.2 eV) to the spin coupling, which is visible already at the Franck-Condon structure, and estimate the additional splitting due to structural relaxation to be around ~0.1-0.2 eV. These results suggest that x-ray absorption with increased resolution might be able to disentangle electronic and structural aspects of the Jahn-Teller effect in benzene cation.

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Room Temperature Alkali Metal Reduction of Carbon Dioxide

10.26434/chemrxiv.12665336 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Lucas A. Freeman ◽

Akachukwu D. Obi ◽

Haleigh R. Machost ◽

Andrew Molino ◽

Asa W. Nichols ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alkali Metal ◽

Alkali Metals ◽

Room Temperature ◽

Chemical Reduction ◽

Bond Cleavage ◽

Open Shell ◽

Metal Reduction ◽

One Pot ◽

Earth Abundant ◽

Electron Reduction

The reduction of the relatively inert carbon–oxygen bonds of CO2 to access useful CO2-derived organic products is one of the most important fundamental challenges in synthetic chemistry. Facilitating this bond-cleavage using earth-abundant, non-toxic main group elements (MGEs) is especially arduous because of the difficulty in achieving strong inner-sphere interactions between CO2 and the MGE. Herein we report the first successful chemical reduction of CO2 at room temperature by alkali metals, promoted by a cyclic(alkyl)(amino) carbene (CAAC). One-electron reduction of CAAC-CO2 adduct (1) with lithium, sodium or potassium metal yields stable monoanionic radicals clusters [M(CAAC–CO2)]n(M = Li, Na, K, 2-4) and two-electron alkali metal reduction affords open-shell, dianionic clusters of the general formula [M2(CAAC–CO2)]n (5-8). It is notable that these crystalline clusters of reduced CO2 may also be isolated via the “one-pot” reaction of free CO2 with free CAAC followed by the addition of alkali metals – a reductive process which does not occur in the absence of carbene. Each of the products 2-8 were investigated using a combination of experimental and theoretical methods.

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