HYdrogenated and Dehydrogenated RAdical Electronic spectroscopy – HYDRAE

The HYDRAE project will explore the almost entirely unknown physical properties of neutral aromatic radicals, both in the isolated gas phase and in aggregates with solvent molecules. Dehydrogenated/ hydrogenated radicals intervene in all concerted Proton Coupled Electron Transfer (PCET) processes, which are the basis of many critical biological reactions. These species are also implicated in molecular hydrogen formation in the interstellar medium and in soot formation. We propose to study the UV-visible and IR spectroscopy of this largely unexplored class of molecular system, to determine the influence of heteroatoms or chemical functionalisation (amino, carbonyl, etc), size of the aromatic chromophore, and solvation upon the radical’s formation, structure and stability. These questions will be addressed by performing electronic spectroscopy and mass spectrometry on functionalised aromatic molecules in their (de)hydrogenated forms in a cryogenically-cooled ion trap or supersonic jet.