Electronic Spectra of 1-Phenylethylamine and its Derivatives in Supersonic Jets

TheS 1 ← S 0fluorescence excitation spectra and dispersed fluorescence spectra of jet-cooled (+)-, (-)-and( ± ) -1-phenylethylamine and their derivatives (amides) have been observed. The 0-0 band of theamine locates at 37,641 cm-1. The amides which were synthesized from (+)-amine or (-)-amine with(+)-tartaric acid are diastereomers. It was found that the two diastereomers give the identical spectra withthe 0-0 band at 34,757 cm -1 . No difference in the spectrum indicates that the excitation is localized in thephenyl group which is far from the asymmetric carbon causing diastereoism. It was also found that1-phenylethylamine has a fast nonradiative relaxation process in the Sstate, but such a process is removedby the formation of the amide.