GEPCS – Group of Spectroscopy of Plasmas and Supersonic Jets
An investigation on the thiophenol dimer and trimer was published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. The weakly-bound dimer adopts a stacked structure, while simultaneously maintaining a weak S-H···S hydrogen bond. Two isomers were detected for the dimer in the gas-phase. Notoriously, a large-amplitude motion was observed in one of the dimers, exchanging the proton donor and aceptor thiol groups.
We published in Chemistry: A European Journal a Minireview on rotational studies of non-covalent interactions, which appeared in the Reviews Showcase section of the Journal. In the article, entitled “The Hydrogen Bond and Beyond: Perspectives for Rotational Investigations of Non‐Covalent Interactions“, we emphasize how the new broadband microwave techniques have boosted the possibilities for analyzing larger clusters and weaker interactions with rotational resolution.
Hydrogen bonds (HBs) involving sulfur are considered much weaker than those of more electronegative atoms. We recently published a comparison between the HBs in the furfuryl mercaptan – water dimer and compared the HBs with those in furfuryl alcohol. The investigation was published in Chemistry – A European Journal. and highlighted in the Journal cover.
The cover below shows a 3D map of electronegativity along the periodic table and the observed dimers.
The dimer sparteine-water has been highlighted as cover of PCCP and part of “2017 PCCP HOT Articles“. Sparteine is a tetracyclic quinolizidine alkaloid used in assymetric synthesis, with two trans and cis conformations. We investigated whether addition of a water molecule flips the molecule by formation of a double hydrogen bond to the cis diamine used in metal complexation. Kinetic reasons explain that the cluster retains the monomer trans conformation.
In the cover picture below the conversion between the observed trans isomer (above) and the alternative cis isomer (below).
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