Infrared and Electronic Spectroscopy of the Jet-Cooled 5-Methyl-2-furanylmethyl Radical Derived from the Biofuel 2,5-Dimethylfuran.

The electronic and infrared spectra of the 5-methyl-2-furanylmethyl (MFM) radical have been characterized under jet-cooled conditions in the gas phase. This resonance-stabilized radical is formed by H atom loss from one of the methyl groups of 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF), a promising second-generation biofuel. As a resonance-stabilized radical, it plays an important role in the flame chemistry of DMF. The D0-D1 transition was studied using two-color resonant two-photon ionization (2C-R2PI) spectroscopy. The electronic origin is in the middle of the visible spectrum (21934 cm(-1) = 455.9 nm) and is accompanied by Franck-Condon activity involving the hindered methyl rotor. The frequencies and intensities are fit to a one-dimensional methyl rotor potential, using the calculated form of the ground state potential. The methyl rotor reports sensitively on the local electronic environment and how it changes with electronic excitation, shifting from a preferred ground state orientation with one CH in-plane and anti to the furan oxygen, to an orientation in the excited state in which one CH group is axial to the plane of the furan ring. Ground and excited state alkyl CH stretch infrared spectra are recorded using resonant ion-dip infrared (RIDIR) spectroscopy, offering a complementary view of the methyl group and its response to electronic excitation. Dramatic changes in the CH stretch transitions with electronic state reflect the changing preference for the methyl group orientation.