Volume 150, 2011

Synchrotron-based highest resolution Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy of naphthalene (C10H8) and indole (C8H7N) and its application to astrophysical problems

Abstract

We report a rotationally resolved analysis of the high resolution FTIR spectrum of naphthalene which can be considered as a prototypical molecule for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and a similar analysis for the prototypical heterocyclic aromatic molecule indole. The spectra have been measured using a resolution of 0.0008 cm−1 (21 MHz) with the new high resolution FTIR prototype spectrometer of the Molecular Kinetics and Spectroscopy Group at ETH Zürich. The spectrometer is connected to the infrared port available at the Swiss Light Source (SLS) at the Paul-Scherrer-Institute (PSI). Due to the high brightness of the synchrotron radiation in the spectral region of interest, effectively up to 20 times brighter than thermal sources, and the high resolution of the new interferometer, it was possible to record the rotationally resolved infrared spectra of naphthalene and indole at room temperature, and to analyse the ν46c-type band ([small nu, Greek, tilde]0 = 782.330949 cm−1) of naphthalene as well as the ν35c-type band ([small nu, Greek, tilde]0 = 738.483592 cm−1) of indole and an a-type band at [small nu, Greek, tilde]0 = 790.864370 cm−1 tentatively assigned as the overtone 2ν40 of indole. The results of the naphthalene band analysis are discussed in relation to the Unidentified Infrared Band (UIB) found in interstellar spectra at 12.8 μm.

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
10 Dec 2010
Accepted
26 Jan 2011
First published
24 Jun 2011

Faraday Discuss., 2011,150, 71-99

Synchrotron-based highest resolution Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy of naphthalene (C10H8) and indole (C8H7N) and its application to astrophysical problems

S. Albert, K. K. Albert, P. Lerch and M. Quack, Faraday Discuss., 2011, 150, 71 DOI: 10.1039/C0FD00013B

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements