Optical activity of electronically delocalized molecular aggregates: Nonlocal response formulation

Colorimetric and fluorescent sensing of rhodamine using polymethacrylate matrix

This is a description of the tracer analysis method involving colorimetric and fluorescent measurements based on solid phase extraction of rhodamine into transparent polymethacrylate matrix. Concentration of rhodamine in PMM is measured as spectrophotometric absorption level at 535 nm and fluorescence at 554 nm. The calibration graphs are linear within the ranges 0.02-0.10 mg∙L^-1 and 0.002-0.06 mg∙L^-1 and detection limits 0.014 mg∙L^-1 and 0.0005 mg∙L^-1 are calculated for colorimetric and fluorescent measurements, respectively. The method has been successfully used for determination of rhodamine in groundwater.

Simulation study of chiral two-dimensional ultraviolet spectroscopy of the protein backbone

Amide n-pi* and pi-pi* excitations around 200 nm are prominent spectroscopic signatures of the protein backbone, which are routinely used in ultraviolet (UV) circular dichroism for structure characterization. Recently developed ultrafast laser sources may be used to extend these studies to two dimensions. We apply a new algorithm for modeling protein electronic transitions to simulate two-dimensional UV photon echo signals in this regime and to identify signatures of protein backbone secondary (and tertiary) structure. Simulated signals for a set of globular and fibrillar proteins and their specific regions reveal characteristic patterns of helical and sheet secondary structures. We investigate how these patterns vary and converge with the size of the structural motif. Specific chiral polarization configurations of the UV pulses are found to be sensitive to aspects of the protein structure. This information significantly augments that available from linear circular dichroism.

Chirality-induced signals in coherent multidimensional spectroscopy of excitons

The nonlocal second- and third-order susceptibilities of an isotropic ensemble of aggregates are calculated by solving the nonlinear exciton equations which map the system into coupled anharmonic oscillators. Both electric and magnetic contributions are included using the minimal-coupling Hamiltonian. The various tensor components are evaluated to first order in the optical wave vector k. Additional structural information about the interchromophore distances, which is not accessible through zeroth-order contributions (the dipole approximation), is contained to the first order in k. New resonant second- and third-order signals predicted for chiral molecules provide multidimensional extensions of circular dichroism spectroscopy. Numerical simulations demonstrate the sensitivity of third-order signals to the secondary structural motiffs of peptides.

A new ultrafast technique for measuring the terahertz dynamics of chiral molecules: the theory of optical heterodyne-detected Raman-induced Kerr optical activity

Optical heterodyne-detected Raman-induced Kerr optical activity (OHD-RIKOA) is a nonresonant ultrafast chiroptical technique for measuring the terahertz-frequency Raman spectrum of chirally active modes in liquids, solutions, and glasses of chiral molecules. OHD-RIKOA has the potential to provide much more information on the structure of molecules and the symmetries of librational and vibrational modes than the well-known nonchirally sensitive technique optical heterodyne-detected Raman-induced Kerr-effect spectroscopy (OHD-RIKES). The theory of OHD-RIKOA is presented and possible practical ways of performing the experiments are analyzed.

Coherent third-order spectroscopic probes of molecular chirality

The third-order optical response of a system of coupled localized anharmonic vibrations is studied using a Green's function solution of the nonlinear exciton equations for bosonized excitons, which are treated as interacting quasiparticles. The explicit calculation of two-exciton states is avoided and the scattering of quasiparticles provides the mechanism of optical nonlinearities. To first-order in the optical wave vector we find several rotationally invariant tensor components for isotropic ensembles which are induced by chirality. The nonlocal nonlinear susceptibility tensor is calculated for infinitely large periodic structures in momentum space, where the problem size reduces to the exciton interaction radius. Applications are made to alpha and 3(10) helical infinite peptides.

Multidimensional femtosecond correlation spectroscopies of electronic and vibrational excitations

Femtosecond visible and infrared analogues of multiple-pulse nuclear magnetic resonance techniques provide novel snapshot probes into the structure and electronic and vibrational dynamics of complex molecular assemblies such as photosynthetic antennae, proteins, and hydrogen-bonded liquids. A classical-oscillator description of these spectroscopies in terms of interacting quasiparticles (rather than transitions among global eigenstates) is developed and sets the stage for designing new pulse sequences and inverting the multidimensional signals to yield molecular structures. Considerable computational advantages and a clear physical insight into the origin of the response and the relevant coherence sizes are provided by a real-space analysis of the underlying coherence-transfer pathways in Liouville space.