Vibrational dynamics of the C–O stretch vibration in alcohols

Ultrafast Vibrational Dynamics of Membrane-Bound Peptides at the Lipid Bilayer/Water Interface

Vibrational energy transfer (VET) of proteins at cell membrane plays critical roles in controlling the protein functionalities, but its detection is very challenging. By using a surface-sensitive femtosecond time-resolved sum-frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy with infrared pump, the detection of the ultrafast VET in proteins at cell membrane has finally become possible. The vibrational relaxation time of the N-H groups is determined to be 1.70(±0.05) ps for the α-helix located in the hydrophobic core of the lipid bilayer and 0.9(±0.05) ps for the membrane-bound β-sheet structure. The N-H groups with strong hydrogen bonding gain faster relaxation time. By pumping the amide A band and probing amide I band, the vibrational relaxation from N-H mode to C=O mode through two pathways (direct coupling and through intermediate states) is revealed. The ratio of the pathways depends on the NH⋅⋅⋅O=C hydrogen-bonding strength. Strong hydrogen bonding favors the coupling through intermediate states.

A spectroscopic and theoretical study in the near-infrared region of low concentration aliphatic alcohols

The near-infrared (NIR) spectra of low-concentration (5 × 10⁻³ M) solutions in CCl₄ of basic aliphatic alcohols, methanol, ethanol, and 1-propanol were, for the first time, calculated by second-order vibrational perturbation theory computations and were compared with the corresponding experimental data.

Hydrogen bond dynamics in primary alcohols: a femtosecond infrared study

Hydrogen-bonded liquids are excellent solvents, in part due to the highly dynamic character of the directional interaction associated with the hydrogen bond. Here we study the vibrational and reorientational dynamics of deuterated hydroxyl groups in various primary alcohols using polarization-resolved femtosecond infrared spectroscopy. We show that the relaxation of the OD stretch vibration is similar for ethanol and its higher homologues (∼0.9 ps), while it is appreciably faster for methanol (∼0.75 ps). The fast relaxation for methanol is attributed to strong coupling of the OD stretch vibration to the overtone of the CH3 rocking mode. Subsequent to excited state relaxation, the dissipation of the excess energy leads to structural relaxation of the alcohol liquid structure. We show that this relaxation of the H-bonded network depends on the alkyl chain length. We find that the anisotropy of the excitation decays by both thermal diffusion from excited OD groups to nonexcited molecules and reorientational motion. The reorientation is described well by a model employing two relaxation times that increase linearly with increasing alcohol size. The short reorientation time is assigned to the partial reorientation of molecules within the alcohol cluster, while the long reorientation times can be attributed to breaking and reforming of hydrogen bonds.

Correlated High-Frequency Molecular Motions in Neat Liquid Probed with Ultrafast Overtone Two-Dimensional Infrared Spectroscopy

In this work, an overtone two-dimensional infrared (2D IR) method is shown to allow correlated molecular motions at the frequencies of overtone transitions to be studied. Waiting-time-dependent overtone 2D IR results of the C-O stretching in neat liquid methanol reveal that the autocorrelation of the v = 0 → 2 transition and the cross correlation of the v = 0 → 2/v = 2 → 4 transitions differ considerably (relaxation time being 700 fs and 2 ps, respectively), suggesting different spectral diffusion dynamics. Quantum-chemical computations in combination with ab initio molecular dynamics simulations show that the overtone transition frequency of the C-O stretching mode in liquid methanol is of more structural sensitivity than the fundamental frequency. This work demonstrates a new 2D IR approach to examining the structural sensitivities of the anharmonic potential parameters of higher vibrational states, which can be used to gain new insight into the ultrafast structural dynamics particularly for neat liquids.

Phenol-benzene complexation dynamics: Quantum chemistry calculation, molecular dynamics simulations, and two dimensional IR spectroscopy

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and quantum mechanical electronic structure calculations are used to investigate the nature and dynamics of the phenol-benzene complex in the mixed solvent, benzene/CCl4. Under thermal equilibrium conditions, the complexes are continuously dissociating and forming. The MD simulations are used to calculate the experimental observables related to the phenol hydroxyl stretching mode, i.e., the two dimensional infrared vibrational echo spectrum as a function of time, which directly displays the formation and dissociation of the complex through the growth of off-diagonal peaks, and the linear absorption spectrum, which displays two hydroxyl stretch peaks, one for the complex and one for the free phenol. The results of the simulations are compared to previously reported experimental data and are found to be in quite reasonable agreement. The electronic structure calculations show that the complex is T shaped. The classical potential used for the phenol-benzene interaction in the MD simulations is in good accord with the highest level of the electronic structure calculations. A variety of other features is extracted from the simulations including the relationship between the structure and the projection of the electric field on the hydroxyl group. The fluctuating electric field is used to determine the hydroxyl stretch frequency-frequency correlation function (FFCF). The simulations are also used to examine the number distribution of benzene and CCl4 molecules in the first solvent shell around the phenol. It is found that the distribution is not that of the solvent mole fraction of benzene. There are substantial probabilities of finding a phenol in either a pure benzene environment or a pure CCl4 environment. A conjecture is made that relates the FFCF to the local number of benzene molecules in phenol's first solvent shell.