Reactive vibrational excitation spectroscopy of formic acid in solid argon: Quantum yield for infrared induced trans→cis isomerization and solid state effects on the vibrational spectrum

Formic acid molecules are trapped in two predominant local environments (sites) when isolated in an argon matrix at 8 K. Using narrowband tunable infrared (IR) radiation, we performed site-selective excitation of various vibrational modes of the lower-energy trans conformer. For all excited modes, ranging from 7000 to 2950 cm−1, we detected site-selective isomerization to the higher-energy cis form. By measuring the IR absorption of a selected band of the cis conformer as a function of the excitation frequency, the reactive vibrational excitation (RVE) spectra were obtained. The trans→cis isomerization quantum yields for the excited modes were determined. Remarkably, very high absolute values were obtained for the quantum yield (up to 40%) at excitation energies above the reaction barrier. The efficiency of the photoinduced isomerization is essentially independent of the excited vibrational mode in a broad energy interval. Even when the excitation energy was below the reaction barrier, IR-induced rotation...