Henk Fidder

Femtosecond UV/mid-IR study of photochromism of the spiropyran 1′,3′-dihydro-1′,3′,3′-trimethyl-6-nitrospiro[2H-1-benzopyran-2,2′-(2H)-indole] in solution

Abstract The ring-opening reaction of 1 ′ ,3 ′ -dihydro-1 ′ ,3 ′ ,3 ′ -trimethyl-6-nitrospiro[2H-1-benzopyran-2,2 ′ -(2H)-indole] is investigated in two solvents, by probing the evolution of the vibrational absorption spectrum with 130 fs time-resolution. Competition between internal conversion and photochemistry is found to depend on the solvent. The internal conversion quantum yield is determined to be 0.63 in perdeuterated acetonitrile and 0.34 in tetrachloroethene. Based on spectral features and biexponential kinetics, the formation of an additional merocyanine isomer in tetrachloroethene is concluded.

N-H stretching excitations in adenosine-thymidine base pairs in solution: pair geometries, infrared line shapes, and ultrafast vibrational dynamics.

We explore the N-H stretching vibrations of adenosine-thymidine base pairs in chloroform solution with linear and nonlinear infrared spectroscopy. Based on estimates from NMR measurements and ab initio calculations, we conclude that adenosine and thymidine form hydrogen bonded base pairs in Watson-Crick, reverse Watson-Crick, Hoogsteen, and reverse Hoogsteen configurations with similar probability. Steady-state concentration and temperature dependent linear FT-IR studies, including H/D exchange experiments, reveal that these hydrogen-bonded base pairs have complex N-H/N-D stretching spectra with a multitude of spectral components. Nonlinear 2D-IR spectroscopic results, together with IR-pump-IR-probe measurements, as also corroborated by ab initio calculations, reveal that the number of N-H stretching transitions is larger than the total number of N-H stretching modes. This is explained by couplings to other modes, such as an underdamped low-frequency hydrogen-bond mode, and a Fermi resonance with NH(2) bending overtone levels of the adenosine amino-group. Our results demonstrate that modeling based on local N-H stretching vibrations only is not sufficient and call for further refinement of the description of the N-H stretching manifolds of nucleic acid base pairs of adenosine and thymidine, incorporating a multitude of couplings with fingerprint and low-frequency modes.

Dynamics and Couplings of N-H Stretching Excitations of Guanosine-Cytidine Base Pairs in Solution

N-H stretching vibrations of hydrogen-bonded guanosine-cytidine (G·C) base pairs in chloroform solution are studied with linear and ultrafast nonlinear infrared (IR) spectroscopy. Assignment of the IR-active bands in the linear spectrum is made possible by combining structural information on the hydrogen bonds in G·C base pairs with literature results of density functional theory calculations, and empirical relations connecting frequency shifts and intensity of the IR-active vibrations. A local mode representation of N-H stretching vibrations is adopted, consisting of ν(G)(NH(2))(f) and ν(C)(NH(2))(f) modes for free NH groups of G and C, and of ν(G)(NH(2))(b), ν(G)(NH), and ν(C)(NH(2))(b) modes associated with N-H stretching motions of hydrogen-bonded NH groups. The couplings and relaxation dynamics of the N-H stretching excitations are studied with femtosecond mid-infrared two-dimensional (2D) and pump-probe spectroscopy. The N-H stretching vibrations of the free NH groups of G and C have an average population lifetime of 2.4 ps. Besides a vibrational population lifetime shortening to subpicosecond values observed for the hydrogen-bonded N-H stretching vibrations, the 2D spectra reveal vibrational excitation transfer from the ν(G)(NH(2))(b) mode to the ν(G)(NH) and/or ν(C)(NH(2))(b) modes. The underlying intermode vibrational couplings are on the order of 10 cm(-1).

N-H stretching modes of adenosine monomer in solution studied by ultrafast nonlinear infrared spectroscopy and ab-initio calculations

The N-H stretching vibrations of adenine, one of the building blocks of DNA, are studied by combining infrared absorption and nonlinear two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy with ab initio calculations. We determine diagonal and off-diagonal anharmonicities of N-H stretching vibrations in chemically modified adenosine monomer dissolved in chloroform. For the single-quantum excitation manifold, the normal mode picture with symmetric and asymmetric NH(2) stretching vibrations is fully appropriate. For the two-quantum excitation manifold, however, the interplay between intermode coupling and frequency shifts due to a large diagonal anharmonicity leads to a situation where strong mixing does not occur. We compare our findings with previously reported values obtained on overtone spectroscopy of coupled hydrogen stretching oscillators.

Photochemistry of Anthracene-9,10-endoperoxide

The wavelength dependence of the photochemistry of anthracene-9,10-endoperoxide (APO) in acetonitrile was quantitatively investigated at 5 degrees C, with excitation varied from 240 to 450 nm. Anthracene (AC) and a diepoxide (DE) were identified as the main primary photoproducts. After short exposure times DE was at all wavelengths the dominating photoproduct, while AC was only formed for lambda <or= 320 nm. The maximum AC quantum yield of 29% was reached at 270 nm. Anthraquinone (AQ) and a bicyclic acetal (BA) were identified as the main secondary products. Formation of AQ and BA occurred both from DE and from ground-state APO. Formation of BA from ground-state APO involved excited DE or BA itself, while formation of BA from DE required UV excitation of DE. Room-temperature thermolysis of APO only produced AQ. For lambda <or= 310 nm the total photochemistry quantum yield was, within error margins, constant and close to unity. Between 300 and 450 nm, the tail of the APO absorption spectrum, a more or less monotonic decrease of the total photochemistry quantum yield was observed.

N–H Stretching Vibrations of Guanosine–Cytidine Base Pairs in Solution: Ultrafast Dynamics, Couplings, and Line Shapes

Dynamics and couplings of N-H stretching vibrations of chemically modified guanosine-cytidine (G·C) base pairs in chloroform are investigated with linear infrared spectroscopy and ultrafast two-dimensional infrared (2D-IR) spectroscopy. Comparison of G·C absorption spectra before and after H/D exchange reveals significant N-H stretching absorption in the region from 2500 up to 3300 cm(-1). Both of the local stretching modes ν(C)(NH(2))(b) of the hydrogen-bonded N-H moiety of the cytidine NH(2) group and ν(G)(NH) of the guanosine N-H group contribute to this broad absorption band. Its complex line shape is attributed to Fermi resonances of the N-H stretching modes with combination and overtones of fingerprint vibrations and anharmonic couplings to low-frequency modes. Cross-peaks in the nonlinear 2D spectra between the 3491 cm(-1) free N-H oscillator band and the bands centered at 3145 and 3303 cm(-1) imply N-H···O═C hydrogen bond character for both of these transitions. Time evolution illustrates that the 3303 cm(-1) band is composed of a nearly homogeneous band absorbing at 3301 cm(-1), ascribed to ν(G)(NH(2))(b), and a broad inhomogeneous band peaking at 3380 cm(-1) with mainly guanosine carbonyl overtone character. Kinetics and signal strengths indicate a <0.2 ps virtually complete population transfer from the excited ν(G)(NH(2))(b) mode to the ν(G)(NH) mode at 3145 cm(-1), suggesting lifetime broadening as the dominant source for the homogeneous line shape of the 3301 cm(-1) transition. For the 3145 cm(-1) band, a 0.3 ps population lifetime was obtained.

Vibrational mode-specific photochemical reaction dynamics of chlorine dioxide in solution

We study the reaction dynamics of OClO in cyclohexane, acetonitrile, and water by femtosecond pump–probe spectroscopy. In all solvents we observe a quantum beat in a 403 nm one-color pump–probe experiment with 55 fs temporal resolution, that decays with a 1.3–1.5 ps time constant. From this we conclude that, in contrast to previous reports, not all OClO molecules dissociate after excitation with 403 nm light. In both cyclohexane and water we observe in the 403 nm experiment an increase in stimulated emission between 0.5 and 2 ps that appears to be connected to the quantum beat decay. We explain these results as the consequence of vibrational relaxation of the bending mode of OClO. Relaxation from (ν1,1,0) to (ν1,0,0) leads to population of a state with a two times higher transition dipole moment, which accounts for the increased stimulated emission. Further proof that not all OClO molecules dissociate immediately after excitation is found in the identification of a stimulated emission contribution in femt...

Hydrogen-bonding-induced enhancement of Fermi resonances: a linear IR and nonlinear 2D-IR study of aniline-d5.

Hydrogen bonding of the amino group of aniline-d5 results in a huge enhancement of the NH2 bending overtone absorption strength, mainly attributed to the Fermi resonance effect. A quantitative analysis is presented, using a hybrid mode representation and encompassing experimental data on aniline with 0, 1, or 2 hydrogen bonds to dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). Changes in enthalpy, hydrogen-bonding-induced frequency shifts, and the transition dipole moment increase of the local N-H stretching oscillator all demonstrate that the hydrogen bond is strongest in the single hydrogen-bonded complex. Linear IR overtone spectra show that the oscillator strength decreases upon hydrogen bonding for the N-H stretching overtones, which is opposite to the effect on the fundamental N-H stretching transitions. Polarization resolved 2D-IR spectra provide detailed information on the N-H stretching overtone manifold and support the relative orientations of the various IR transitions.

Femtosecond polarization resolved spectroscopy: A tool for determination of the three-dimensional orientation of electronic transition dipole moments and identification of configurational isomers

A method is presented that combines femtosecond polarization resolved UV/visible pump-IR probe spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations in determining the three-dimensional orientation of an electronic transition dipole moment (tdm) within the molecular structure. The method is demonstrated on the approximately planar molecule coumarin 314 (C314) dissolved in acetonitrile, which can exist in two ground state configurations: the E- and the Z-isomer. Based on an exhaustive search analysis on polarization resolved measurement data for four different vibrational modes, it is concluded that C314 in acetonitrile is the E-isomer. The electronic tdm vector for the electronic S(0)-->S(1) transition is determined and the analysis shows that performing the procedure for four vibrational modes instead of the minimally required three reduces the 1sigma probability area from 2.34% to 2.24% of the solution space. Moreover, the fastest rotational correlation time tau(c) for the C314 E-isomer is determined to be 26+/-2 ps.

Hydrogen Bonding Induced Enhancement of Fermi Resonances: Ultrafast Vibrational Energy Flow Dynamics in Aniline-d5

With hydrogen bonding of the amino group of aniline-d5 we can identify the roles of Fermi enhanced combination and overtone states in intramolecular vibrational re-distribution (IVR) pathways for N-H stretching excitations. Using linear Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, ultrafast one- and two-color IR-pump-IR-probe spectroscopy, and femtosecond two-dimensional IR spectroscopy, we can identify the primary accepting modes for N-H stretching excitations. In particular, a key role is played by the δ(NH2) bending degree of freedom, either via its δ = 2 overtone state or via a combination state with the ν(C═C) ring stretching mode. No significant transient population in these Fermi enhanced combination/overtone states can be observed, a consequence of similar decay rates of these Fermi enhanced combination/overtone states and of the N-H stretching states. A similar magnitude of the transient response of the two fingerprint modes regardless of direct excitation of the Fermi enhanced combination/overtone levels or of the N-H stretching states suggests an underlying coupling mechanism facilitating common IVR pathways. This mechanism is expected to be of general importance for other organic compounds with hydrogen-bonded amino groups, including DNA bases.