Detailed Investigations of the Pump−Probe Spectroscopy of the Equilibrated Solvated Electron in Alcohols

Pump−probe spectroscopy of the equilibrated solvated electron in methanol and ethanol has been studied with ∼300 fs time resolution. At low pump power the observed dynamics are assigned to s → p excitation and subsequent relaxation of a localized solvated electron. In contrast, at high pump power, two-photon absorption apparently produces mobile “conduction band” electrons, which are subsequently trapped and relax at a remote site from the initial equilibrated electron. The two-photon excitation is also observed to induce an ultrafast proton-transfer reaction from the solvent.