Time-resolved spectroscopy electronically excited states

So far we have exclusively discussed time-resolved absorption spectroscopy with visible femtosecond pulses. It has become recently feasible to perfomi time-resolved spectroscopy with femtosecond IR pulses. Flochstrasser and co-workers [M, 150. 151. 152. 153. 154. 155. 156 and 157] have worked out methods to employ IR pulses to monitor chemical reactions following electronic excitation by visible pump pulses these methods were applied in work on the light-initiated charge-transfer reactions that occur in the photosynthetic reaction centre [156. 157] and on the excited-state isomerization of tlie retinal pigment in bacteriorhodopsin [155]. Walker and co-workers [158] have recently used femtosecond IR spectroscopy to study vibrational dynamics associated with intramolecular charge transfer these studies are complementary to those perfomied by Barbara and co-workers [159. 160], in which ground-state RISRS wavepackets were monitored using a dynamic-absorption technique with visible pulses. 

Hydrogen transfer in excited electronic states is being intensively studied with time-resolved spectroscopy. A typical scheme of electronic terms is shown in fig. 46. A vertical optical transition, induced by a picosecond laser pulse, populates the initial well of the excited Si state. The reverse optical transition, observed as the fluorescence band Fj, is accompanied by proton transfer to the second well with lower energy. This transfer is registered as the appearance of another fluorescence band, F2, with a large anti-Stokes shift. The rate constant is inferred from the time dependence of the relative intensities of these bands in dual fluorescence. The experimental data obtained by this method have been reviewed by Barbara et al. [1989]. We only quote the example of hydrogen transfer in the excited state of... 

The historical development and elementary operating principles of lasers are briefly summarized. An overview of the characteristics and capabilities of various lasers is provided. Selected applications of lasers to spectroscopic and dynamical problems in chemistry, as well as the role of lasers as effectors of chemical reactivity, are discussed. Studies from these laboratories concerning time-resolved resonance Raman spectroscopy of electronically excited states of metal polypyridine complexes are presented, exemplifying applications of modern laser techniques to problems in inorganic chemistry. 

We have reported the first direct observation of the vibrational spectrum of an electronically excited state of a metal complex in solution (40). The excited state observed was the emissive and photochemically active metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) state of Ru(bpy)g+, the vibrational spectrum of which was acquired by time-resolved resonance Raman (TR ) spectroscopy. This study and others (19,41,42) demonstrates the enormous, virtually unique utility of TR in structural elucidation of electronically excited states in solution. 2+... 

Time-resolved laser flash ESR spectroscopy generates radicals with nonequilibrium spin populations and causes spectra with unusual signal directions and intensities. The signals may show absorption, emission, or both and be enhanced as much as 100-fold. Deviations from Boltzmann intensities, first noted in 1963, are known as chemically induced dynamic electron polarization (CIDEP). Because the splitting pattern of the intermediate remains unaffected, the CIDEP enhancement facilitates the detection of short-lived radicals. A related technique, fluorescence detected magnetic resonance (FDMR) offers improved time resolution and its sensitivity exceeds that of ESR. The FDMR experiment probes short-lived radical ion pairs, which form reaction products in electronically excited states that decay radiatively. ... 

A. Time-Resolved Spectroscopy of Electronically Excited States... 

A variety of spectroscopic methods has been used to determine the nature of the MLCT excited state in the /ac-XRe(CO)3L system. Time-resolved resonance Raman measurements of /ac-XRe(CO)3(bpy) (X = Cl or Br) have provided clear support for the Re -a- n (bpy) assignment of the lowest energy excited state [44], Intense excited-state Raman lines have been observed that are associated with the radical anion of bpy, and the amount of charge transferred from Re to bpy in the lowest energy excited state has been estimated to be 0.84 [45], Fast time-resolved infrared spectroscopy has been used to obtain the vibrational spectrum of the electronically excited states of/ac-ClRe(CO)3(bpy) and the closely related/ac-XRe(CO)3 (4,4 -bpy)2 (X = Cl or Br) complexes. In each... 

The relaxation time for this new dynamic equilibrium varies from femtoseconds to picoseconds. The fast reorientation of solvent molecules causes a fast solva-tochromic shift in the fluorescence band of the organic chromophores. Solvation dynamics is measured in terms of (8v (0) 8v (/)), where the fluctuating frequency v(t) is the difference in solvation energies between the two electronic states involved, i.e., v(t)= sE(t)/h [110]. In time-resolved emission spectroscopy the time dependence of the excited-state distribution is monitored via the frequency shift of the emission... 

Another approach of great importance for studies of excited state dynamics is sub-picosecond time resolved spectroscopy. A number of authors have reported femtosecond pump-probe measurements of excited state lifetimes in A, C, T, and G [13-16] and base pair mimics [17]. Schultz et al. have reported time resolved photoelectron spectroscopy and electron-ion coincidence of base pair mimics [18]. these studies can also be compared with similar measurements in solution [19-24], While time resolved measurements provide direct lifetime data, they do have the limitation that the inherent bandwidth reduces the spectral resolution, required for selecting specific electronic states and for selecting single isomers, such as cluster structure and tautomeric form. 

An examination of the photo-induced electron transfer processes between the quinone (268) and multifunctional porphyrins has been carried out. Chloranil has been used as an electron accepting sensitizer in the presence of the silylenols (269) and (270). The reactions can be carried out in both methylene chloride and acetonitrile and result in the conversion of the enols into the corresponding ketones. Other studies on the same systems have shown that the outcome of the irradiation at X > 380 nm can be influenced by solvent polarity and by added salt. ° Time-resolved spectroscopy has been used to study the excited singlet state of /7-chloranil. ... 

In the previous sections, it has been shown how powerful the time-resolved fluorescence techniques are in real time probing of photoinduced processes and in allowing the determination of reaction rates from fluorescence lifetimes. The present section is devoted to the method of UV/vis transient absorption spectroscopy, which is a key method in probing non emissive species and is thus crucial to detect photoreaction products or intermediates following optical excitation of molecules in their electronic excited states. When carried out on short time scales, i.e. with femtosecond to subnanosecond excitation sources, fluorescent species can also be detected by their stimulated emission. Combining time-resolved fluorometry and transient absorption spectroscopy is ideal for the study of photochemical and photophysical molecular processes. 

Early experiments in this new field of femtosecond chemistry took the form of time-resolved spectroscopy since the probing involved absorption or emission spectroscopy. Theoretical interpretation of the spectroscopic data is clearly required in order to obtained the desired information, i.e., snapshots of the time-dependent distribution of atomic positions. To that end, extensive quantum chemical calculations of energies of excited electronic states are needed, which even today can be cumbersome for larger molecular systems. Soon after the first successful experiments using time-resolved spectroscopy, there was, therefore, efforts to use alternative probing techniques like diffraction. The advantage is that a simpler and more direct connection between the diffraction signals and molecular structure is available. 

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