Tryptamine in the gas phase. A high resolution laser study of the structural and dynamic properties of its ground and electronically excited states

Abstract

High resolution S₁←S₀ fluorescence excitation spectra of tryptamine have been observed in the collision-free environment of a supersonic molecular beam. Each origin band has been assigned to a unique conformer of the isolated molecule based on its observed rotational constants. For the first time, subbands have been detected in the rotationally resolved spectra of bands C_blue and D. A possible hindered motion is proposed to account for the appearance of these subbands. This motion connects the minima associated with the Antipy and Antiph conformers, and thus explores new regions of the energy landscape of this important biomolecule.

Acknowledgements

We thank James Fitzpatrick, Jon Hougen, Cheolhwa Kang, Brooks Pate, John Yi, and Tim Zwier for helpful discussions. This work has been supported by NSF (CHE-0315584) to whom we are grateful. We are also grateful to John Simons for his enthusiastic support of our research over many stimulating years, and wish him well.

Notes

Present address: Department of Chemistry, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244

Additional information

Notes on contributors

D. W. Pratt *

Present address: Department of Chemistry, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244