Conformational analysis by laser spectroscopy in the gas phase: p-methoxyphenethylamine (a neurotransmitter)

Abstract

Rotationally resolved fluorescence excitation spectra of seven different S₁ ← S₀ origin bands of p-methoxyphenethylamine have been obtained in the collision-free environment of a molecular beam. Analyses of these spectra permit unambiguous assignments of specific bands to specific conformers, based on differences in their inertial defects, rotational constants, and electronic transition moment orientations, thereby resolving a controversy in the recent literature.