Abstract

The condensed phase photochemistry of transition metal carbonyls has been investigated by various techniques in recent years. It is anticipated that such studies will contribute to our understanding of coordinatively unsaturated organometallic complexes and their role in homogeneous catalysis. IR characterization of photogenerated intermediates in isolated matrices has helped to identify photochemical reaction pathways, however, the frozen matrix imposes steric restrictions on pathways which may be important in the liquid phase at room or elevated temperatures. Transient IR methods offering microsecond time resolution have made an important leap in characterizing those reactive intermediates whose lifetimes are determined by diffusion limited bimolecular collisions. Characterization of the primary photochemical events and their products, however, requires significantly improved time resolution. Picosecond transient absorption methods which probe the uv/visible absorption spectrum offer the potential to temporally resolve the ultrafast events leading to the primary photoproducts, however the electronic spectrum is quite complex and generally does not contain features which are structure specific. Clearly, ultrafast IR methods can shed much light on the primary events in condensed phase photochemical processes.

© 1990 Optical Society of America