Autotuning of Vibrational Strong Coupling for Site-Selective Reactions

Abstract

Site-selective chemistry opens new paths for the synthesis of technologically important molecules. When a reactant is placed inside a Fabry–Perot (FP) cavity, energy exchange between molecular vibrations and resonant cavity photons results in vibrational strong coupling (VSC). VSC has recently been implicated in modified chemical reactivity at specific reactive sites. However, as a reaction proceeds inside an FP cavity, the refractive index of the reaction solution changes, detuning the cavity mode away from the vibrational mode and weakening the VSC effect. Here we overcome this issue, developing actuatable FP cavities to allow automated tuning of cavity mode energy to maintain maximized VS..