Robert W. Hartsock

Tracking excited-state charge and spin dynamics in iron coordination complexes

Crucial to many light-driven processes in transition metal complexes is the absorption and dissipation of energy by 3d electrons. But a detailed understanding of such non-equilibrium excited-state dynamics and their interplay with structural changes is challenging: a multitude of excited states and possible transitions result in phenomena too complex to unravel when faced with the indirect sensitivity of optical spectroscopy to spin dynamics and the flux limitations of ultrafast X-ray sources. Such a situation exists for archetypal polypyridyl iron complexes, such as [Fe(2,2′-bipyridine)3]2+, where the excited-state charge and spin dynamics involved in the transition from a low- to a high-spin state (spin crossover) have long been a source of interest and controversy. Here we demonstrate that femtosecond resolution X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, with its sensitivity to spin state, can elucidate the spin crossover dynamics of [Fe(2,2′-bipyridine)3]2+ on photoinduced metal-to-ligand charge transfer excitation. We are able to track the charge and spin dynamics, and establish the critical role of intermediate spin states in the crossover mechanism. We anticipate that these capabilities will make our method a valuable tool for mapping in unprecedented detail the fundamental electronic excited-state dynamics that underpin many useful light-triggered molecular phenomena involving 3d transition metal complexes.

Orbital-specific mapping of the ligand exchange dynamics of Fe(CO)(5) in solution

Transition-metal complexes have long attracted interest for fundamental chemical reactivity studies and possible use in solar energy conversion. Electronic excitation, ligand loss from the metal centre, or a combination of both, creates changes in charge and spin density at the metal site that need to be controlled to optimize complexes for photocatalytic hydrogen production and selective carbon–hydrogen bond activation. An understanding at the molecular level of how transition-metal complexes catalyse reactions, and in particular of the role of the short-lived and reactive intermediate states involved, will be critical for such optimization. However, suitable methods for detailed characterization of electronic excited states have been lacking. Here we show, with the use of X-ray laser-based femtosecond-resolution spectroscopy and advanced quantum chemical theory to probe the reaction dynamics of the benchmark transition-metal complex Fe(CO)5 in solution, that the photo-induced removal of CO generates the 16-electron Fe(CO)4 species, a homogeneous catalyst with an electron deficiency at the Fe centre, in a hitherto unreported excited singlet state that either converts to the triplet ground state or combines with a CO or solvent molecule to regenerate a penta-coordinated Fe species on a sub-picosecond timescale. This finding, which resolves the debate about the relative importance of different spin channels in the photochemistry of Fe(CO)5 (refs 4, 16,17,18,19 and 20), was made possible by the ability of femtosecond X-ray spectroscopy to probe frontier-orbital interactions with atom specificity. We expect the method to be broadly applicable in the chemical sciences, and to complement approaches that probe structural dynamics in ultrafast processes.

A setup for resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering on liquids at free electron laser light sources

We present a flexible and compact experimental setup that combines an in vacuum liquid jet with an x-ray emission spectrometer to enable static and femtosecond time-resolved resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering (RIXS) measurements from liquids at free electron laser (FEL) light sources. We demonstrate the feasibility of this type of experiments with the measurements performed at the Linac Coherent Light Source FEL facility. At the FEL we observed changes in the RIXS spectra at high peak fluences which currently sets a limit to maximum attainable count rate at FELs. The setup presented here opens up new possibilities to study the structure and dynamics in liquids.

Coherent structural trapping through wave packet dispersion during photoinduced spin state switching.

The description of ultrafast nonadiabatic chemical dynamics during molecular photo-transformations remains challenging because electronic and nuclear configurations impact each other and cannot be treated independently. Here we gain experimental insights, beyond the Born–Oppenheimer approximation, into the light-induced spin-state trapping dynamics of the prototypical [Fe(bpy)3]2+ compound by time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy at sub-30-femtosecond resolution and high signal-to-noise ratio. The electronic decay from the initial optically excited electronic state towards the high spin state is distinguished from the structural trapping dynamics, which launches a coherent oscillating wave packet (265 fs period), clearly identified as molecular breathing. Throughout the structural trapping, the dispersion of the wave packet along the reaction coordinate reveals details of intramolecular vibronic coupling before a slower vibrational energy dissipation to the solution environment. These findings illustrate how modern time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy can provide key information to unravel dynamic details of photo-functional molecules.

Metalloprotein entatic control of ligand-metal bonds quantified by ultrafast x-ray spectroscopy

Sulfurs balancing act in cytochrome c Cytochrome c enzymes have two distinct functions that depend on the position of a methionine residue. When the sulfur in the methionine side chain coordinates with iron in the enzymes active site, the protein is optimized for electron transfer; otherwise, it is poised for peroxidase activity. Mara et al. used ultrafast x-ray absorption and emission spectroscopy to probe the energetics of this Fe-S bond (see the Perspective by Bren and Raven). By breaking the bond transiently with light and then timing its reformation, they determined that the surrounding protein environment boosts the bond strength by 4 kilocalories per mole—just enough to toggle between each functional state at a practical rate. Science, this issue p. 1276; see also p. 1236 The local structure of cytochrome c enhances the strength of an iron-sulfur bond in the active site by 4 kilocalories per mole. The multifunctional protein cytochrome c (cyt c) plays key roles in electron transport and apoptosis, switching function by modulating bonding between a heme iron and the sulfur in a methionine residue. This Fe–S(Met) bond is too weak to persist in the absence of protein constraints. We ruptured the bond in ferrous cyt c using an optical laser pulse and monitored the bond reformation within the protein active site using ultrafast x-ray pulses from an x-ray free-electron laser, determining that the Fe–S(Met) bond enthalpy is ~4 kcal/mol stronger than in the absence of protein constraints. The 4 kcal/mol is comparable with calculations of stabilization effects in other systems, demonstrating how biological systems use an entatic state for modest yet accessible energetics to modulate chemical function.

Identification of the dominant photochemical pathways and mechanistic insights to the ultrafast ligand exchange of Fe(CO)5 to Fe(CO)4EtOH

We utilized femtosecond time-resolved resonant inelastic X-ray scattering and ab initio theory to study the transient electronic structure and the photoinduced molecular dynamics of a model metal carbonyl photocatalyst Fe(CO)5 in ethanol solution. We propose mechanistic explanation for the parallel ultrafast intra-molecular spin crossover and ligation of the Fe(CO)4 which are observed following a charge transfer photoexcitation of Fe(CO)5 as reported in our previous study [Wernet et al., Nature 520, 78 (2015)]. We find that branching of the reaction pathway likely happens in the 1A1 state of Fe(CO)4. A sub-picosecond time constant of the spin crossover from 1B2 to 3B2 is rationalized by the proposed 1B2 → 1A1 → 3B2 mechanism. Ultrafast ligation of the 1B2 Fe(CO)4 state is significantly faster than the spin-forbidden and diffusion limited ligation process occurring from the 3B2 Fe(CO)4 ground state that has been observed in the previous studies. We propose that the ultrafast ligation occurs via 1B2 → 1A1 → 1A′ Fe(CO)4EtOH pathway and the time scale of the 1A1 Fe(CO)4 state ligation is governed by the solute-solvent collision frequency. Our study emphasizes the importance of understanding the interaction of molecular excited states with the surrounding environment to explain the relaxation pathways of photoexcited metal carbonyls in solution.

Characterizing the deformational isomers of bimetallic Ir2(dimen)4(2+) (dimen = 1,8-diisocyano-p-menthane) with vibrational wavepacket dynamics.

We studied the Ir(2)(dimen)(4)(2+) complex with ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy and density functional theory and concluded that it possesses two singlet ground state isomers in room temperature solution. The molecule can adopt either a paddle wheel or a propeller conformation in solution, where the paddle wheel structure possesses a metal-metal bond of 4.4 Å and a dihedral angle between the quasi-C(4v) planes of 0° and the propeller structure has a metal-metal bond of 3.6 Å and a dihedral angle of 17° when crystallized. Each conformation has a distinct absorption in the visible attributed to a (1)(dσ(z)* → pσ(z)) excitation, with the long eclipsed structure absorbing at 475 nm and the short twisted structure absorbing at 585 nm. We independently pumped at each of these visible transitions to form vibrational wavepackets on the ground and excited state potential energy surfaces, which modulated the ground state bleach and stimulated emission signals, respectively. We found that the ground state wavepacket oscillates with a frequency of 48 cm(-1) when pumping the red peak and 11 cm(-1) when pumping the blue peak. We assign these frequencies to the Ir-Ir symmetric stretch, with the variation in frequency reflecting the variation in metal-metal bond strength in support of our assignment of the blue peak to the longer Ir-Ir bond length conformer and the red peak to the shorter Ir-Ir bond length conformer. When pumping the red peak, we found two modes with frequencies of 80 and 119 cm(-1) in the stimulated emission and only one mode at 75 cm(-1) when pumping the blue peak. We assign the 75-80 cm(-1) frequency to the Ir-Ir stretch and the 119 cm(-1) vibration to the dihedral angle twist in the excited state. The variation in the excited state dynamics does not result from the excitation of different electronic states, but rather from excitation to different Franck-Condon regions of the same electronic excited state potential energy surface. This occurs because of the large difference in ground state molecular structure. DFT calculations support the existence of a single electronic excited state being accessed from two distinct structural isomers with conformations similar to those observed with X-ray crystallography.

Interdependence of Conformational and Chemical Reaction Dynamics during Ion Assembly in Polar Solvents

We have utilized time-resolved vibrational spectroscopy to study the interdependence of the conformational and chemical reaction dynamics of ion assembly in solution. We investigated the chemical interconversion dynamics of the LiNCS ion pair and the (LiNCS)(2) ion-pair dimer, as well as the spectral diffusion dynamics of these ionic assemblies. For the strongly coordinating Lewis base solvents benzonitrile, dimethyl carbonate, and ethyl acetate, we observe Li(+) coordination by both solvent molecules and NCS(-) anions, while the weak Lewis base solvent nitromethane shows no evidence for solvent coordination of Li(+) ions. The strong interaction between the ion-pair dimer structure and the Lewis base solvents leads to ion-pair dimer solvation dynamics that proceed more slowly than the ion-pair dimer dissociation. We have attributed the slow spectral diffusion dynamics to electrostatic reorganization of the solvent molecules coordinated to the Li(+) cations present in the ion-pair dimer structure and concluded that the dissociation of ion-pair dimers depends more critically on longer length scale electrostatic reorganization. This unusual inversion of the conformational and chemical reaction rates does not occur for ion-pair dimer dissociation in nitromethane or for ion pair association in any of the solvents.

Atomistic characterization of the active-site solvation dynamics of a model photocatalyst

The interactions between the reactive excited state of molecular photocatalysts and surrounding solvent dictate reaction mechanisms and pathways, but are not readily accessible to conventional optical spectroscopic techniques. Here we report an investigation of the structural and solvation dynamics following excitation of a model photocatalytic molecular system [Ir2(dimen)4]2+, where dimen is para-diisocyanomenthane. The time-dependent structural changes in this model photocatalyst, as well as the changes in the solvation shell structure, have been measured with ultrafast diffuse X-ray scattering and simulated with Born-Oppenheimer Molecular Dynamics. Both methods provide direct access to the solute–solvent pair distribution function, enabling the solvation dynamics around the catalytically active iridium sites to be robustly characterized. Our results provide evidence for the coordination of the iridium atoms by the acetonitrile solvent and demonstrate the viability of using diffuse X-ray scattering at free-electron laser sources for studying the dynamics of photocatalysis.

Ligand manipulation of charge transfer excited state relaxation and spin crossover in [Fe(2,2′-bipyridine)2(CN)2]

We have used femtosecond resolution UV-visible and Kβ x-ray emission spectroscopy to characterize the electronic excited state dynamics of [Fe(bpy)2(CN)2], where bpy=2,2′-bipyridine, initiated by metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) excitation. The excited-state absorption in the transient UV-visible spectra, associated with the 2,2′-bipyridine radical anion, provides a robust marker for the MLCT excited state, while the transient Kβ x-ray emission spectra provide a clear measure of intermediate and high spin metal-centered excited states. From these measurements, we conclude that the MLCT state of [Fe(bpy)2(CN)2] undergoes ultrafast spin crossover to a metal-centered quintet excited state through a short lived metal-centered triplet transient species. These measurements of [Fe(bpy)2(CN)2] complement prior measurement performed on [Fe(bpy)3]2+ and [Fe(bpy)(CN)4]2− in dimethylsulfoxide solution and help complete the chemical series [Fe(bpy)N(CN)6–2N]2N-4, where N = 1–3. The measurements confirm that simple ligand modifications can significantly change the relaxation pathways and excited state lifetimes and support the further investigation of light harvesting and photocatalytic applications of 3d transition metal complexes.