Vibrational characterization of dinaphthylpolyynes: A model system for the study of end-capped sp carbon chains

We perform a systematic investigation of the resonance and vibrational properties of naphthyl-terminated sp carbon chains (dinaphthylpolyynes) by combined multi-wavelength resonant Raman (MWRR) spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, and Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, plus ab initio density functional theory (DFT) calculations. We show that the MWWR and FT-IR spectroscopies are particularly suited to identify chains of different lengths and different terminations, respectively. By DFT calculations, we further extend those findings to sp carbon chains end-capped by other organic structures. The present analysis shows that combined MWRR and FT-IR provide a powerful tool to draw a complete picture of chemically stabilized sp carbon chains. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.