Philip J. Brucat
Associate Professor of Chemistry

Department of Chemistry
University of Florida

VOICE: (352) 392-2006

EMAIL: brucat@ufl.edu

HOMEPAGE: http://grove.ufl.edu/~brucat/

Research Interests

The nature of the chemical bond stems from quantum mechanical behavior of valence electrons and may be understood from the solution to the Schroedinger equation. Many approaches have been used to calculate this solution (i.e. set of eigenstates) for the isolated molecule; We have chosen to measure the eigenvalues of the molecular Hamiltonian spectroscopically. High-resolution spectroscopy determines eigenvalue energies through the observation of radiation-induced transitions in the isolated ion. Present laser technology is capable measuring the frequencies of such transitions with accuracy far better than any ab initio computational method. The synergy between spectroscopy and theory is strengthened by such accuracy.

Of late, we have applied a flavor of high-resolution spectroscopy, called resonant photodissociation, to open d-shell ion complexes. These molecules are simple examples of chemical behavior not yet quantitatively understood. The unique chemical properties of these species is related to the unquenched electronic orbital angular momentum and large resultant electron spin, typically observed in their spectra. This electronic behavior is a harbinger of structure much more complicated than that of 'organic' molecules but with a geometry that is much simpler, so we can focus our attention on the fascinating.

Recent Publications

1. "The Structure and Properties of Fe+(CO) and Fe+(CO2)", T. Buthelezi, and P. J. Brucat, Manuscript in preparation.

2. "The Ground and Charge-Transfer Excited States of CoO+", A. Kamariotis, T Hayes, D Bellert, and PJ Brucat, Chem Phys Lett, 316, 60 (2000)

3. "The Structure of Co+OCO", D. Bellert, T. Buthelezi, and P. J. Brucat, Chem Phys Lett 290, 316 (1998)

4. "The Bond Length of VAr+ from Rotationally Resolved Photodissociation", T. Hayes, D. Bellert, T. Buthelezi, and P. J. Brucat, Chem. Phys. Lett., 287, 22 (1998)

5. "Gas Phase Solvation of the Zirconium Oxide Ion: ZrO+CO2 and ZrO+N2",D. Bellert, T. Buthelezi, T. Hayes, and P. J. Brucat, Chem Phys Lett, 276, 242 (1997)

6. "The Binding Energy and Vibronic Structure of NbXe+", D. Bellert, T. Buthelezi, T. Hayes, and P. J. Brucat, Chem Phys Lett, 277, 27 (1997)

7. "The Photodissociation of V+CH4", T. Hayes, D. Bellert, T. Buthelezi, P. J. Brucat, Chem Phys Lett., 264, 220 (1997)

8. "The Adiabatic Binding Energy of NbAr+", T Buthelezi, D. Bellert, T.Hayes, and P. J. Brucat, Chem. Phys. Lett., 262, 303 (1996)

9. "The Binding Energy of VXe+", D. Bellert, T. Buthelezi, K. Dezfulian, T. Hayes, and P. J. Brucat, Chem Phys Lett., 260, 458 (1996)

10. "Vibronic Transitions in Ni2+", T. Buthelezi, D. Bellert, V. Lewis, K. Dezfulian, J Kisko, T. Hayes, and P. J. Brucat, Chem. Phys. Lett., 257, 340 (1996)

11. "Rovibronic Structure of Ni2+ via Resonant Two-Color Photodissociation", D. Bellert, T. Buthelezi, V. Lewis, K. Dezfulian, D. Reed, T. Hayes, and P. J. Brucat, Chem. Phys. Lett., 256, 555 (1996)