Explorations of conical intersections and their ramifications for chemistry through the Jahn–Teller effect

Abstract

Much recent progress has been made theoretically and computationally towards understanding the importance of conical intersections for chemical reactions. Nonetheless, experimental characterization of conical intersections has proven extremely difficult with one striking exception: the Jahn–Teller conical intersection. This article overviews the fundamental similarity of a variety of conical intersections and demonstrates how the spectroscopy of Jahn–Teller active molecules can be used to characterize them. Specific results are reviewed for four representative Jahn–Teller active molecules, C₅H₅, C₆H₆ ⁺, Ag₃ and CH₃O.