Some carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by Photoacoustic spectroscopy

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have attracted spectroscopists, astrophysicts and environmentalists because of their importance in our day to day life. It is well known that epoxides are produced during the metabolism of PAHs and have the requisite chemical reactivity to qualify them for the role as an ultimate carcinogenic form of PAHs. Several carcinogenic PAHs such as 3.4-benzopyrene, 1.2,3.4-dibenzopyrene, 3.4,9.10-dibenzopyrene etc. are found to be present in tobacco smoke and among air pollutants. Although PAH molecules are being studied for last several years by using conventional spectroscopy but no systematic attempt has been made to study non-radiative transitions. In our laboratory, we have studied many PAH molecules by a non-destructive technique with unique capability and sensitivity, known as Photoacoustic (PA) spectroscopy. PA spectroscopy is an analytical and research tool to get information about non-radiative transitions and singlet-triplet electronic transitions, where the conventional spectroscopic technique fails. The study of electronic transitions of some carcinogenic molecules are reported using PA and optical absorption spectra in boric acid glass in the region 250-400 nm. The electronic transitions of these molecules observed experimentally, have been interpreted using the optimised geometries and CNDO/S-CI method. A good agreement is found between the experimental and calculated results. Assignments of observed electronic transitions are made on the basis of singlet-triplet electronic transitions. Vibrations attached to these electronic transitions are attributed to the ground state vibrational modes.