15min:
CHARGE REDISTRIBUTION IN THE beta-NAPHTHOL-WATER COMPLEX AS MEASURED BY HIGH RESOLUTION STARK SPECTROSCOPY IN THE GAS PHASE..

ADAM J. FLEISHER, DAVID W. PRATT, Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260; ALESSANDRO CEMBRAN AND JIALI GAO, Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455.

The extensively studied photoacid beta-naphthol exhibits a large decrease in pKa upon irradiation with ultraviolet light, in the condensed phase. beta-naphthol is almost 10 million times more acidic in the excited electronic state, compared to the ground state. Motivated by this fact, we report here the measurement of the electronic dipole moments of the beta-naphthol-water complex in both electronic states, from which estimates of the charge transfer from solute to solvent in both states will be made. Comparisons to ab initio and density functional theory calculations will also be reported.