Laser-Initiated Shuttling of a Water Molecule Between H-Bonding Sites
Jasper R. Clarkson,1
Esteban Baquero,1
V. Alvin Shubert,1
Evgeniy M. Myshakin,2
Kenneth D. Jordan,2
Timothy S. Zwier1*
The two-step laser excitation scheme of stimulated emission pumping (SEP) induces shifts of a single water molecule between two remote hydrogen bonding sites on trans-formanilide. This reaction can be initiated by selective excitation of either isomer (C
O-bound or NH-bound) with different SEP excitation wavelengths. Energy (E) thresholds for isomerization in both directions have been measured [796 wave numbers
E(C
O
NH)
988 wave numbers and 750 wave numbers
E(NH
C
O)
988 wave numbers], and the energy difference DE between the C
O-bound and NH-bound isomers was extracted (238 wave numbers
DE
+192 wave numbers).
1 Department of Chemistry, 560 Oval Drive, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 479072084, USA.
2 Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: zwier{at}purdue.edu