Muon spin spectroscopy of ferrocene: characterization of muoniated ferrocenyl radicals

Abstract

Radicals formed by the reaction of muonium (Mu), a light isotope of hydrogen, with ferrocene and ferrocene-d₁₀ have been studied with the avoided level crossing muon spin resonance (ALC-μSR) and longitudinal field muon spin relaxation (LF-μSR) techniques between 10 and 100 K. A single type of radical was observed in each compound and the muon hyperfine coupling constants (hfcc) and the muon spin relaxation rates were measured as a function of temperature. A previous report concerning the observation of Mu adducts of ferrocene (U. A. Jayasooriya et al. Chem. – Eur. J., 2007, 13, 2266–2276) appears to be incorrect. DFT calculations were performed to aid in the assignment of the ALC-μSR spectra. A tentative assignment is that the observed radicals were formed by Mu addition to the exterior of the cyclopentadienyl rings and that the structures are distorted due to interactions with neighbouring molecules. The temperature dependence of the muon hfcc can be explained assuming the population of two levels with different muon hfccs separated by 1.4 ± 0.1 kJ mol⁻¹. The temperature dependence of the width and amplitude of the Δ₁ resonance and the muon spin relaxation rate suggests that the electron spin relaxation rate increase with temperature, but the relaxation mechanism is unknown.