Peter A. Eckert, Kevin J. Kubarych J. Phys. Chem. A (2017) 121, 2896-2902
In an effort to examine the role of electronic structure and oxidation states in potentially modifying intramolecular vibrational dynamics and intermolecular solvation, we have used 2D-IR to study two distinct oxidation states of an organometallic complex. The complex, [1,1’-bis(diphenylphosphino)ferrocene]tetracarbonyl chromium (DPPFCr), consists of a catalytic diphenylphosphino ferrocene redox-active component as well as a Cr that can be switched from a Cr(0) to a Cr(I) oxidation state using a chemical oxidant in dichloromethane (DCM) solution. The DPPFCr(1) radical cation is sufficiently stable to investigate with 2D-IR spectroscopy, which provides dynamical information such as vibrational relaxation, intramolecular vibrational redistribution, as well as solvation dynamics manifested as spectral diffusion. Our measurements show that the primarily intramolecular dynamical processes—vibrational relaxation and redistribution—differ significantly between the two oxidation states, with faster relaxation in the oxidized DPPFCr(I) radical cation. The primarily intermolecular spectral diffusion dynamics, however, exhibit no oxidation state dependence. We speculate that the low nucleophilicity (i.e. donicity) of the DCM solvent, which is chosen to facilitate the chemical oxidation, masks any potential changes in solvation dynamics accompanying the substantial decrease in the 2.5 Debye molecular dipole moment of DPPFCr(I) relative to DPPFCr(0) (7.5 Debye).