Spectroscopic study on deuterated benzenes. III. Vibronic structure and dynamics in the S(1) state.

We observed the fluorescence excitation spectra and mass-selected resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) excitation spectra for the 6(0)(1), 6(0)(1)1(0)(1), and 6(0)(1)1(0)(2) bands of the S1←S0 transition of jet-cooled deuterated benzene and assigned the vibronic bands of C6D6 and C6HD5. The 6(0)(1)1(0)(n) (n = 0, 1, 2) and 0(0)(0) transition energies were found to be dependent only on the number of D atoms (ND), which was reflected by the zero-point energy of each H/D isotopomer. In some isotopomers some bands, such as those of out-of-plane vibrations mixed with 6(1)1(n), make the spectra complex. These included the 6(1)10(2)1(n) level or combination bands with ν12 which are allowed because of reduced molecular symmetry. From the lifetime measurements of each vibronic band, some enhancement of the nonradiative intramolecular vibrational redistribution (IVR) process was observed. It was also found that the threshold excess energy of "channel three" was higher than the 6(1)1(2) levels, which were similar for all the H/D isotopomers. We suggest that the channel three nonradiative process could be caused mainly by in-plane processes such as IVR and internal conversion at the high vibrational levels in the S1 state of benzene, although the out-of-plane vibrations might contribute to some degree.