Plasmon-mediated dehydrogenation of the aromatic methyl group and benzyl radical formation

Plasmonic molecular junctions can harvest visible light and effectively catalyze chemical reactions. The strong light field concentrated in the plasmonic junction also enables the application of surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) to probe the catalyzed chemical reactions in situ and in real time down to single-molecule resolution. The benzyl radical produced from the aromatic methyl group through the dehydrogenation reaction is an important precursor for a large variety of reactions. Here, we used time-resolved SERS to conduct a mechanistic study of the plasmon-driven dehydrogenation reaction of the aromatic methyl group under ambient conditions under the illumination of red light on the apex of a gold nanoelectrode. Transient spectral changes with intensity bursts are frequently observed. Based on density functional theory and picocavity based local electric field enhancement calculations, they result from the plasmon mediated dehydrogenation reaction of aromatic methyl groups. The dehydrogenation reaction produces a benzyl radical, which is consequently converted to a benzyl anion. The benzyl anion is stabilized through strong interactions with gold, leading to the formation of dynamic gold adatoms and picocavities. In addition to the benzyl anion, we found spectral evidence that the benzyl radical generates dimers through a self-reaction. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the dehydrogenation reaction could be facially modulated by changing the electrode potential, which is attributed to the modulated inductive effect.