Revealing the Structure and Noncovalent Interactions of Isolated Molecules by Laser-Desorption/Ionization-Loss Stimulated Raman Spectroscopy and Quantum Calculations

Afik Shachar, Itai Kallos, Mattanjah S. De Vries, Ilana Bar

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

The structural and dynamical characteristics of isolated molecules are essential, yet obtaining this information is difficult. We demonstrate laser-desorption jet-cooling/ionization-loss stimulated Raman spectroscopy to obtain Raman spectral signatures of nonvolatile molecules in the gas phase. The vibrational features of a test substance, the most abundant conformer of tryptamine, are compared and found to match those resulting from the scaled harmonic Raman spectrum obtained by density functional theory calculations. The vibrational signatures serve to identify the most prominent gauche conformer and evaluate its predicted electronic structure. These findings, together with noncovalent interaction (NCI) analysis, provide new insights into electron densities and reduced density gradients, assessing the hydrogen bonds (N-H···πand C-H···H-C) and interplay between attractive and repulsive NCIs affecting the structure. This approach accesses vibrational signatures of isolated nonvolatile molecules by tabletop lasers at uniform resolution and in a broad frequency range, promising great benefit to future studies.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)11273-11279
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Physical Chemistry Letters
Volume12
Issue number46
DOIs
StatePublished - 25 Nov 2021

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Materials Science
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry

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