Study on the vibrational energy relaxation of p-nitroaniline, N,N-dimethyl-p-nitroaniline, and azulene by the transient grating method

Mid-Infrared Generated Laser-Induced Grating Signals in Methane-Containing Gas Mixtures as Indicators of Composition, Pressure, and Temperature

The present work is aimed at studying how spatially periodic modulations of the refractive index of the medium, i.e., laser-induced gratings (LIGs), generated in a gas mixture containing methane (CH4) by nanosecond pulses of resonant mid-infrared laser radiation, can be used to measure various gas parameters. It is investigated to what extent the temporal profiles of the LIG signals, recorded as the power of the diffracted by LIGs continuous wave probe radiation, are specific to the composition, pressure, and temperature of a selected buffer gas. This specificity is illustrated by the LIG signal profiles recorded in the experiments in different gas mixtures under various conditions. Experimental data show that large LIG signals can be obtained even in mixtures with CH4 concentrations as low as ∼100 parts per million due to the strong absorption of the excitation light and subsequent rapid, highly exothermic, and partner-dependent collisional energy exchange of the laser-excited molecules with the environment. These two factors ensure high LIG generation efficiency by a small number of CH4 molecules and high sensitivity of signal strength and profile to variations of gas parameters.

Theoretical Study of Raman Intensities of p-Nitroaniline in Different Solvent Conditions by Using a Reference Interaction Site Model Self-Consistent Field Explicitly Including Constrained Spatial Electron Density Distribution

Raman spectroscopy is one of the most powerful tools to understand and characterize the states and structures of systems in several environments. To obtain highly accurate changes in Raman intensities of systems in solution, theoretical treatment, which can deal with not only the states and structures of systems but also the environment around molecules, proves to be significant. Hence, in this study, we developed the calculation of changes in Raman intensities of systems in different solvent conditions by using the reference interaction site model self-consistent field study explicitly including constrained spatial electron density distribution; this model is designed based on elements from both quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics. We showed that our calculation method could reproduce the changes in Raman intensities of p-nitroaniline (pNA) under different solvent conditions, including supercritical water, which has been observed in previous experimental studies. Based on the analysis of the calculation results, we observed that the ratio of the Raman intensity change of pNA in different solvent conditions is strongly correlated with the charge-transfer character of pNA.

Vibrational relaxation by methylated xanthines in solution: Insights from 2D IR spectroscopy and calculations

Two-dimensional infrared (2D IR) spectroscopy, infrared pump-infrared probe spectroscopy, and density functional theory calculations were used to study vibrational relaxation by ring and carbonyl stretching modes in a series of methylated xanthine derivatives in acetonitrile and deuterium oxide (heavy water). Isotropic signals from the excited symmetric and asymmetric carbonyl stretch modes decay biexponentially in both solvents. Coherent energy transfer between the symmetric and asymmetric carbonyl stretching modes gives rise to a quantum beat in the time-dependent anisotropy signals. The damping time of the coherent oscillation agrees with the fast decay component of the carbonyl bleach recovery signals, indicating that this time constant reflects intramolecular vibrational redistribution (IVR) to other solute modes. Despite their similar frequencies, the excited ring modes decay monoexponentially with a time constant that matches the slow decay component of the carbonyl modes. The slow decay times, which are faster in heavy water than in acetonitrile, approximately match the ones observed in previous UV pump-IR probe measurements on the same compounds. The slow component is assigned to intermolecular energy transfer to solvent bath modes from low-frequency solute modes, which are populated by IVR and are anharmonically coupled to the carbonyl and ring stretch modes. 2D IR measurements indicate that the carbonyl stretching modes are weakly coupled to the delocalized ring modes, resulting in slow exchange that cannot explain the common solvent-dependence. IVR is suggested to occur at different rates for the carbonyl vs ring modes due to differences in mode-specific couplings and not to differences in the density of accessible states.

Intramolecular vibrational redistribution in the non-radiative excited state decay of uracil in the gas phase: an ab initio molecular dynamics study

We report a study of intramolecular vibrational distribution (IVR) occurring in the electronic ground state of uracil (S0) in the gas phase, following photoexcitation in the lowest energy bright excited state (Sπ) and decay through the ethylene-like Sπ/S0 Conical Intersection (CI-0π). To this aim we have performed 20 independent ab initio molecular dynamics simulations starting from CI-0π (ten of them with 1 eV kinetic energy randomly distributed over the different molecular degrees of freedom) and 10 starting from the ground state minimum (Franck-Condon, FC, point), with the excess kinetic energy equal to the energy gap between CI-0π and the FC point. The simulations, exploiting PBE0/6-31G(d) calculations, were performed over an overall period of 10 ps. A thorough statistical analysis of the variation of the geometrical parameters of uracil during the simulation time and of the distribution of the kinetic energy among the different vibrational degrees of freedom provides a consistent picture of the IVR process. In the first 0-200 fs the structural dynamics involve mainly the recovery of the average planarity. In the 200-600 fs time range, a substantial activation of CO and NH degrees of freedom is observed. After 500-600 fs most of the geometrical parameters reach average values similar to those found after 10 ps, though the system cannot be considered to be in equilibrium yet.

Multiple population-period transient spectroscopy (MUPPETS) of CdSe/ZnS nanoparticles. I. Exciton and biexciton dynamics

The nonradiative relaxation of both the exciton and biexciton in CdSe/ZnS core-shell nanoparticles have complicated, nonexponential kinetics. This paper presents data on this system from multiple population-period transient spectroscopy (MUPPETS), a method for two-dimensional kinetics. An initial report of a dispersed (nonexponential) biexciton decay [J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 1002] is confirmed in a more rigorous analysis. Additional transient-grating data allow a quantitative treatment of the full, complex MUPPETS data set. The MUPPETS signal has a strong fluence dependence. With extrapolation to the low fluence limit, the ratio of cross sections for ground-to-exciton and exciton-to-biexciton absorption is found to be close to the predictions of the uncorrelated-electron model. The full two-dimensional MUPPETS data set is reported for the first time and is analyzed to detect heterogeneity in the exciton decay. The exciton has a substantial (>40%) nonradiative decay, but it is not due to a subset of defective particles. A surface relaxation in response to formation of the exciton is suggested. This data set is the first capable of detecting correlations between the biexciton and exciton decay mechanism. None is found.

Vibrational energy relaxation of large-amplitude vibrations in liquids

Given the limited intermolecular spaces available in dense liquids, the large amplitudes of highly excited, low frequency vibrational modes pose an interesting dilemma for large molecules in solution. We carry out molecular dynamics calculations of the lowest frequency ("warping") mode of perylene dissolved in liquid argon, and demonstrate that vibrational excitation of this mode should cause identifiable changes in local solvation shell structure. But while the same kinds of solvent structural rearrangements can cause the non-equilibrium relaxation dynamics of highly excited diatomic rotors in liquids to differ substantially from equilibrium dynamics, our simulations also indicate that the non-equilibrium vibrational energy relaxation of large-amplitude vibrational overtones in liquids should show no such deviations from linear response. This observation seems to be a generic feature of large-moment-arm vibrational degrees of freedom and is therefore probably not specific to our choice of model system: The lowest frequency (largest amplitude) cases probably dissipate energy too quickly and the higher frequency (more slowly relaxing) cases most likely have solvent displacements too small to generate significant nonlinearities in simple nonpolar solvents. Vibrational kinetic energy relaxation, in particular, seems to be especially and surprisingly linear.

Solvent and Solvent Isotope Effects on the Vibrational Cooling Dynamics of a DNA Base Derivative

Vibrational cooling by 9-methyladenine was studied in a series of solvents by femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. Signals at UV and near-UV probe wavelengths were assigned to hot ground state population created by ultrafast internal conversion following electronic excitation by a 267 nm pump pulse. A characteristic time for vibrational cooling was determined from bleach recovery signals at 250 nm. This time increases progressively in H2O (2.4 ps), D2O (4.2 ps), methanol (4.5 ps), and acetonitrile (13.1 ps), revealing a pronounced solvent effect on the dissipation of excess vibrational energy. The trend also indicates that the rate of cooling is enhanced in solvents with a dense network of hydrogen bonds. The faster rate of cooling seen in H2O vs D2O is noteworthy in view of the similar hydrogen bonding and macroscopic thermal properties of both liquids. We propose that the solvent isotope effect arises from differences in the rates of solute-solvent vibrational energy transfer. Given the similarities of the vibrational friction spectra of H2O and D2O at low frequencies, the solvent isotope effect may indicate that a considerable portion of the excess energy decays by exciting relatively high frequency (>/=700 cm-1) solvent modes.