Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Conserved Vibrational Coherence In The Ultrafast Rearrangement Of 2-Nitrotoluene Radical Cation, Derrick Ampadu Boateng, Mi'kayla D. Word, Lavrenty Gutsev, Puru Jena, Katharine M. Tibbetts

Chemistry Publications

2-Nitrotoluene (2-NT) is a good model for both photolabile protecting groups for organic synthesis and the military explosive 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT). In addition to the direct C−NO2 bond-cleavage reaction that initiates detonation in TNT, 2-NT undergoes an H atom attack reaction common to the photolabile 2-nitrobenzyl group, which forms the aci-nitro tautomer. In this work, femtosecond pump−probe measure- ments with mass spectrometric detection and density functional theory (DFT) calculations demonstrate that the initially prepared vibrational coherence in the 2-NT radical cation (2- NT+) is preserved following H atom attack. Strong-field adiabatic ionization is used to prepare 2-NT+, which can overcome a …