title: Spectroscopy of the free phenalenyl radical.
abstract: After benzene and naphthalene, the smallest polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon bearing six-membered rings is the threefold-symmetric phenalenyl radical. Despite the fact that it is so fundamental, its electronic spectroscopy has not been rigorously scrutinized, in spite of growing interest in graphene fragments for molecular electronic applications. Here we used complementary laser spectroscopic techniques to probe the jet-cooled phenalenyl radical in vacuo. Its spectrum reveals the interplay between four electronic states that exhibit Jahn-Teller and pseudo-Jahn-Teller vibronic coupling. The coupling mechanism has been elucidated by the application of various ab initio quantum-chemical techniques.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, The University of Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia.
authors.forename: Gerard D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.forename: Tyler P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Troy
authors.forename: Derrick A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: Nahid
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chalyavi
authors.forename: Burkhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fückel
authors.forename: Maxwell J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Crossley
authors.forename: Klaas
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nauta
authors.forename: John F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Stanton
authors.forename: Timothy W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Schmidt