title: The ultraviolet photodissociation of axial and equatorial conformers of 3-pyrroline.
abstract: Resolved sets of photoproducts arising from the photodissociation of axial and equatorial conformers of 3-pyrroline have been observed using H(Rydberg) atom photofragment translational spectroscopy following excitation in the wavelength range of 250-213 nm. 3-pyrroline (alternatively 2,5-dihydropyrrole) is a five membered partially saturated heterocycle in which the bonding around the N atom is pyramidal (sp(3) hybridized) and the N-H bond can lie either axial or equatorial to the ring. Careful analysis of total kinetic energy release data derived from H atom time-of-flight measurements reveals excitation of the 3-pyrrolinyl cofragment consistent with N-H bond fission in both the axial and equatorial conformers. This allows determination of the energy difference between the ground state conformers to be 340±50 cm(-1) and the N-H bond strength for axial and equatorial conformers as 31,610±50 and 31,270±50 cm(-1), respectively.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TS, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Thomas A A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Oliver
authors.forename: Graeme A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: Michael N R
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Ashfold