Structures of the dehydrogenation products of methane activation by 5d transition metal cations revisited: Deuterium labeling and rotational contours.

A previous infrared multiple photon dissociation (IRMPD) action spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) study explored the structures of the [M,C,2H] products formed by dehydrogenation of methane by four, gas-phase 5d transition metal cations (M = Ta, W, Ir, and Pt). Complicating the analysis of these spectra for Ir and Pt was observation of an extra band in both spectra, not readily identified as a fundamental vibration. In an attempt to validate the assignment of these additional peaks, the present work examines the gas phase [M,C,2D] products of the same four metal ions formed by reaction with perdeuterated methane (CD). As before, metal cations are formed in a laser ablation source and react with methane pulsed into a reaction channel downstream, and the resulting products are spectroscopically characterized through photofragmentation using the free-electron laser for intracavity experiments in the 350-1800 cm range. Photofragmentation was monitored by the loss of D for [Ta,C,2D] and [W,C,2D] and of D in the case of [Pt,C,2D] and [Ir,C,2D]. Comparison of the experimental spectra and DFT calculated spectra leads to structural assignments for all [M,C,2H/2D] systems that are consistent with previous identifications and allows a full description of the systematic spectroscopic shifts observed for deuterium labeling of these complexes, some of the smallest systems to be studied using IRMPD action spectroscopy. Further, full rotational contours are simulated for each vibrational band and explain several observations in the present spectra, such as doublet structures in several bands as well as the observed linewidths. The prominent extra bands in the [Pt,C,2D/2H] spectra appear to be most consistent with an overtone of the out-of-plane bending vibration of the metal carbene cation structure.