The toluene-Ar complex: S0 and S1 van der Waals modes, changes to methyl rotation, and torsion-van der Waals...

The methyl rotor and van der Waals vibrational levels in the S1 and S0 states of toluene-Ar have been investigated by the technique of two-dimensional laser induced fluorescence (2D-LIF). The S0 van der Waals and methyl rotor levels are reported for the first time, while improved S1 values are presented. The correlations seen in the 2D-LIF images between the S0 and S1 states lead to a reassignment of key features in the S1 ← S0 excitation spectrum. This reassignment reveals that there are significant changes in the methyl rotor levels in the complex compared with those in bare toluene, particularly at low m. The observed rotor energies are explained by the introduction of a three-fold, V3, term in the torsion potential (this term is zero in toluene) and a reduction in the height of the six-fold, V6, barriers in S0 and S1 from their values in bare toluene. The V3 term is larger in magnitude than the V6 term in both S0 and S1. The constants determined are ∣V3(S1)∣ = 33.4 ± 1.0 cm(-1), ∣V3(S0)∣ = 20.0 ± 1.0 cm(-1), V6(S1) = -10.7 ± 1.0 cm(-1), and V6(S0) = -1.7 ± 1.0 cm(-1). The methyl rotor is also found to couple with van der Waals vibration; specifically, the m(") = 2 rotor state couples with the combination level involving one quantum of the long axis bend and m(") = 1. The coupling constant is determined to be 1.9 cm(-1), which is small compared with the values typically reported for torsion-vibration coupling involving ring modes.