Femtosecond time-resolved photodissociation dynamics of methyl halide molecules on ultrathin gold films

• Mihai E. Vaida,
• Robert Tchitnga and
• Thorsten M. Bernhardt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 618–627, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.65

• chloride, adsorbed on a metal surface was investigated in real time by means of femtosecond-laser pump–probe mass spectrometry. A weakly interacting gold surface was employed as substrate because the intact adsorption of the methyl halide molecules was desired prior to photoexcitation. The gold surface was

• . However, neither photodissociation products nor the parent molecule were detected, independent on the pump–probe delay time. Similar results were reported by White and coworkers for methyl iodide adsorbed on Pt(111) [28][29][30][31]. In their work, methyl iodide molecules that were adsorbed on the metal

• cation signal intensity as a function of the pump–probe delay. The result is shown in Figure 5. The CD3+ transient signal consists of a peak structure with a maximum at 50 fs. The interpretation of this transient is based on earlier experiments with methyl iodide on an insulating magnesia surface and on