Alexander V. Benderskii

Hydrogen bonding at the water surface revealed by isotopic dilution spectroscopy

The air–water interface is perhaps the most common liquid interface. It covers more than 70 per cent of the Earth’s surface and strongly affects atmospheric, aerosol and environmental chemistry. The air–water interface has also attracted much interest as a model system that allows rigorous tests of theory, with one fundamental question being just how thin it is. Theoretical studies have suggested a surprisingly short ‘healing length’ of about 3 ångströms (1 Å = 0.1 nm), with the bulk-phase properties of water recovered within the top few monolayers. However, direct experimental evidence has been elusive owing to the difficulty of depth-profiling the liquid surface on the ångström scale. Most physical, chemical and biological properties of water, such as viscosity, solvation, wetting and the hydrophobic effect, are determined by its hydrogen-bond network. This can be probed by observing the lineshape of the OH-stretch mode, the frequency shift of which is related to the hydrogen-bond strength. Here we report a combined experimental and theoretical study of the air–water interface using surface-selective heterodyne-detected vibrational sum frequency spectroscopy to focus on the ‘free OD’ transition found only in the topmost water layer. By using deuterated water and isotopic dilution to reveal the vibrational coupling mechanism, we find that the free OD stretch is affected only by intramolecular coupling to the stretching of the other OD group on the same molecule. The other OD stretch frequency indicates the strength of one of the first hydrogen bonds encountered at the surface; this is the donor hydrogen bond of the water molecule straddling the interface, which we find to be only slightly weaker than bulk-phase water hydrogen bonds. We infer from this observation a remarkably fast onset of bulk-phase behaviour on crossing from the air into the water phase.

Heterodyne-Detected Vibrational Sum Frequency Generation Spectroscopy

We present a new technique of broad-band heterodyne-detected sum frequency generation (HD-SFG) spectroscopy and demonstrate its high sensitivity allowing surface-selective measurements of vibrational spectra at submonolayer surface coverage, as low as a few percent of a monolayer. This was achieved without the help of surface enhancement phenomena, on a transparent dielectric substrate (water), and without introducing fluorescent labels, in fact, without utilizing any electronic resonances. Only the intrinsic vibrational transitions were employed for the detection of the analyte molecules (1-octanol). Unlike conventional (homodyne-detected) SFG spectroscopy, where the signal intensity decreases quadratically with decreasing surface coverage, in HD-SFG, the scaling is linear, and the signal is amplified by interference with a reference beam, significantly improving sensitivity and detection limits. At the same time, HD-SFG provides the phase as well as the amplitude of the signal and thus allows accurate subtraction of the non-resonant background--a common problem for surfaces with low concentrations of analyte molecules (i.e., weak resonant signals).

Temporal effects on spectroscopic line shapes, resolution, and sensitivity of the broad-band sum frequency generation

Sum frequency generation (SFG) is a surface-selective spectroscopy that provides a wealth of molecular-level information on the structure and dynamics at surfaces and interfaces. This paper addresses the general issue of spectral resolution and sensitivity of the broad-band (BB) SFG that involves a spectrally narrow nonresonant (usually visible) and a BB resonant (usually infrared) laser pulses. We examine how the spectral width and temporal shape of the two pulses, and the time delay between them, relate to the spectroscopic line shape and signal level in the BB-SFG measurement. By combining experimental and model calculations, we show that the best spectral resolution and highest signal level are simultaneously achieved when the nonresonant narrow-band upconversion pulse arrives with a nonzero time delay after the resonant BB pulse. The nonzero time delay partially avoids the linear trade-off of improving spectral resolution at the expense of decreasing signal intensity, which is common in BB-SFG schemes utilizing spectral filtering to produce narrow-band visible pulses.

Spectrally- and time-resolved vibrational surface spectroscopy: Ultrafast hydrogen-bonding dynamics at D2O/CaF2 interface

Time- and frequency-domain three-wave mixing spectroscopy (IR+visible sum frequency generation) is developed as the lowest-order nonlinear technique that is both surface selective and capable of measuring spectral evolution of vibrational coherences. Using 70 fs infrared and 40 fs visible pulses, we observe ultrafast spectral dynamics of the OD stretch of D2O at the CaF2 surface. Spectral shifts indicative of the hydrogen-bond network rearrangement occur on the 100 fs time scale, within the observation time window determined by the vibrational dephasing. By tuning the IR pulse wavelength to the blue or red side of the OD-stretch transition, we selectively monitor the dynamics of different subensembles in the distribution of the H-bond structures. The blue-side excitation (weaker H-bonding structures) shows monotonic decay and nu(OD) frequency shift to the red on a 100 fs time scale, which is better described by a Gaussian than an exponential frequency correlation function. In contrast, the red-side excitation (stronger H-bonding structures) results in a blue spectral shift and a recursion in the signal at 125+/-10 fs, indicating the presence of an underdamped intermolecular mode of interfacial water.

Steric hindrance of photoswitching in self-assembled monolayers of azobenzene and alkane thiols

Surface-bound azobenzenes exhibit reversible photoswitching via trans-cis photoisomerization and have been proposed for a variety of applications such as photowritable optical media, liquid crystal displays, molecular electronics, and smart wetting surfaces. We report a novel synthetic route using simple protection chemistry to form azobenzene-functionalized SAMs on gold and present a mechanistic study of the molecular order, orientation, and conformation in these self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). We use vibrational sum-frequency generation (VSFG) to characterize their vibrational modes, molecular orientation, and photoisomerization kinetics. Trans-cis conformational change of azobenzene leads to the change in the orientation of the nitrile marker group detected by VSFG. Mixed SAMs of azobenzene and alkane thiols are used to investigate the steric hindrance effects. While 100% azobenzene SAMs do not exhibit photoisomerization due to tight packing, we observe reversible switching (>10 cycles) in mixed SAMs with only 34% and 50% of alkane thiol spacers.

Rubbing-induced anisotropy of long alkyl side chains at polyimide surfaces

Molecular organization at polyimide surfaces used as alignment layers in liquid crystal displays was investigated using vibrational sum frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy. We focus on the orientation of the long alkyl side groups at the polymer surface using polarization-selected SFG spectra of the CH(3)- and CH(2)-stretch modes of the side chain. Mechanical rubbing and baking, an accepted industrial procedure used to produce pretilt of the liquid crystal, was found to induce pronounced azimuthal anisotropy in the orientational distribution of the alkyl side chains. Orientational analysis of the SFG vibrational spectra in terms of the azimuthal and tilt angles (in and out of plane, respectively) of the alkyl side chains shows their preferential tilt along the rubbing direction, with the azimuthal distribution narrower for stronger rubbed polymer samples.

Molecular order in Langmuir-Blodgett monolayers of metal-ligand surfactants probed by sum frequency generation.

Molecular organization of Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) monolayers of novel copper-containing metal-ligand surfactants was characterized by the surface-selective vibrational sum frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy. The orientational and conformational order inferred from the SFG peak amplitudes and line shapes were correlated with the two-dimensional phases of the monolayers observed in the compression isotherms. The octadecyl-pyridin-2-ylmethyl-amine (L(PyC18)) ligand by itself shows good amphiphilic properties, as indicated by the high monolayer collapse pressure at the air/water interface, but its LB films transferred onto fused silica exhibit a high degree of trans-gauche conformational disorder in the alkyl tails. Coordination of copper(II) ions to the chelating head group enhances the molecular alignment and reduces the fraction of gauche defects of the alkyl chains. Monolayers of single-tail (L(PyC18)Cu(II)Cl(2)) and double-tail [(L(PyC18))(2)Cu(II)]Cl(2) metallosurfactants show distinctly different behavior of their molecular organization as a function of the area per molecule. Our observations suggest metal-ligand interactions as a pathway to induce molecular order in LB monolayer films.

Carbohydrate Surface Attachment Characterized by Sum Frequency Generation Spectroscopy

Covalent surface attachment of carbohydrate moieties using maleimide-sulfhydril reaction was characterized by surface-selective vibrational sum-frequency generation (VSFG) spectroscopy. The comparative VSFG spectra of the precursor maleimide-terminated SAM and the product glucose adlayer reveal the high efficiency of the surface coupling reaction (>90%) and the details of the molecular organization of the formed carbohydrate adlayer. The glucose groups are orientationally well ordered, as judged by their sharp C-H stretch bands. The chemical structure of the linker can significantly affect the orientation of the carbohydrate moiety at the surface. Two alkanethiol linkers of different chain lengths (11 and 16 carbons) yield similar orientations of the glucose in the adlayer whereas the cysteine-containing linker produces markedly different relative peak intensities of the glucose C-H stretch bands in the VSFG spectra, suggesting a significantly different orientation with respect to the surface plane.

Molecular organization in SAMs used for neuronal cell growth

The attachment of cells onto solid supports is fundamental in the development of advanced biosensors or biochips. In this work, we characterize cortical neuron adhesion, growth, and distribution of an adhesive layer, depending on the molecular structure and composition . Neuronal networks are successfully grown on amino-terminated alkanethiol self-assembled monolayer (SAM) on a gold substrate without adhesion protein interfaces. Neuron adhesion efficiency was studied for amino-terminated, carboxy-terminated, and 1:1 mixed alkanethiol SAMs deposited on gold substrates. Atomic force microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to measure the roughness of gold substrate and thickness of SAM monolayers. Conformational ordering and ionic content of SAMs were characterized by vibrational sum frequency generation (VSFG) spectroscopy. Only pure amino-terminated SAMs provide efficient neuronal cell attachment. Ordering of the terminal amino groups does not affect efficiency of neuron adhesion. VSFG analysis shows that ordering of the terminal groups improves with decreasing surface roughness; however the number of gauche defects in alkane chains is independent of surface roughness. We monitor partial dissociation of carboxy groups in mixed SAMs that implies formation of NH3+ neighbors and appearance of catanionic structure. Such catanionic environment proved inefficient for neuron adhesion. Surface roughness of metal within the 0.7-2 nm range has little effect on the efficiency of neuron adhesion. This approach can be used to create new methods that help map structure-property relationships of biohybrid systems.

Orientational dynamics in sum frequency spectroscopic line shapes.

We present a general response function formalism describing the contribution of orientational dynamics of molecules at interfaces to spectroscopic line shapes in vibrational sum frequency generation (SFG). When reorientation occurs on the time scale comparable to vibrational dephasing, its dynamics can be extracted from polarization-selected SFG spectral line shapes. Unique features of orientational motion at interfaces are (1) the anisotropic case-specific equilibrium orientational distribution and (2) possible dynamic anisotropy (e.g., different in-plane versus out-of-plane relaxation rates), both of which must be taken into account. Within the small-step rotational diffusion model, we present solutions for two cases, the weak-confinement model, applicable when the deviations from the isotropic case are not severe, and the wobbling-in-a-cone model, which considers a hard-wall orienting potential. SFG line shapes are calculated for a rod-like chromophore as a function of the rotational diffusion rate. For certain equilibrium orientational distributions, orientational dynamics may result in anomalous bi-Lorentzian line shapes (two Lorentzians of different widths centered and the same frequency).