@article{SchreckPietzschKennedyetal.2016, author = {Schreck, Simon and Pietzsch, Annette and Kennedy, Brian and Sathe, Conny and Miedema, Piter S. and Techert, Simone and Strocov, Vladimir N. and Schmitt, Thorsten and Hennies, Franz and Rubensson, Jan-Erik and F{\"o}hlisch, Alexander}, title = {Ground state potential energy surfaces around selected atoms from resonant inelastic x-ray scattering}, series = {Scientific reports}, volume = {6}, journal = {Scientific reports}, publisher = {Nature Publ. Group}, address = {London}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/srep20054}, pages = {7}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Thermally driven chemistry as well as materials' functionality are determined by the potential energy surface of a systems electronic ground state. This makes the potential energy surface a central and powerful concept in physics, chemistry and materials science. However, direct experimental access to the potential energy surface locally around atomic centers and to its long-range structure are lacking. Here we demonstrate how sub-natural linewidth resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering at vibrational resolution is utilized to determine ground state potential energy surfaces locally and detect long-range changes of the potentials that are driven by local modifications. We show how the general concept is applicable not only to small isolated molecules such as O2 but also to strongly interacting systems such as the hydrogen bond network in liquid water. The weak perturbation to the potential energy surface through hydrogen bonding is observed as a trend towards softening of the ground state potential around the coordinating atom. The instrumental developments in high resolution resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering are currently accelerating and will enable broad application of the presented approach. With this multidimensional potential energy surfaces that characterize collective phenomena such as (bio)molecular function or high-temperature superconductivity will become accessible in near future.}, language = {en} } @article{KunnusJosefssonRajkovicetal.2016, author = {Kunnus, Kristjan and Josefsson, I. and Rajkovic, Ivan and Schreck, Simon and Quevedo, Wilson and Beye, Martin and Weniger, C. and Gruebel, S. and Scholz, M. and Nordlund, D. and Zhang, W. and Hartsock, R. W. and Gaffney, K. J. and Schlotter, W. F. and Turner, J. J. and Kennedy, B. and Hennies, F. and de Groot, F. M. F. and Techert, S. and Odelius, Michael and Wernet, Ph. and F{\"o}hlisch, Alexander}, title = {Identification of the dominant photochemical pathways and mechanistic insights to the ultrafast ligand exchange of Fe(CO)(5) to Fe(CO)(4)EtOH}, series = {Structural dynamics}, volume = {3}, journal = {Structural dynamics}, publisher = {American Institute of Physics}, address = {Washington}, issn = {2329-7778}, doi = {10.1063/1.4941602}, pages = {16}, year = {2016}, abstract = {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 (1)A(1) state of Fe(CO)(4). A sub-picosecond time constant of the spin crossover from B-1(2) to B-3(2) is rationalized by the proposed B-1(2) -> (1)A(1) -> B-3(2) mechanism. Ultrafast ligation of the B-1(2) Fe(CO)(4) state is significantly faster than the spin-forbidden and diffusion limited ligation process occurring from the B-3(2) Fe(CO)(4) ground state that has been observed in the previous studies. We propose that the ultrafast ligation occurs via B-1(2) -> (1)A(1) -> (1)A'Fe(CO)(4)EtOH pathway and the time scale of the (1)A(1) 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. (C) 2016 Author(s).}, language = {en} } @article{KunnusZhangDelceyetal.2016, author = {Kunnus, Kristjan and Zhang, Wenkai and Delcey, Mickael G. and Pinjari, Rahul V. and Miedema, Piter S. and Schreck, Simon and Quevedo, Wilson and Schr{\"o}der, Henning and F{\"o}hlisch, Alexander and Gaffney, Kelly J. and Lundberg, Marcus and Odelius, Michael and Wernet, Philippe}, title = {Viewing the Valence Electronic Structure of Ferric and Ferrous Hexacyanide in Solution from the Fe and Cyanide Perspectives}, series = {The journal of physical chemistry : B, Condensed matter, materials, surfaces, interfaces \& biophysical chemistry}, volume = {120}, journal = {The journal of physical chemistry : B, Condensed matter, materials, surfaces, interfaces \& biophysical chemistry}, publisher = {American Chemical Society}, address = {Washington}, issn = {1520-6106}, doi = {10.1021/acs.jpcb.6b04751}, pages = {7182 -- 7194}, year = {2016}, abstract = {The valence-excited states of ferric and ferrous hexacyanide ions in aqueous solution were mapped by resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) at the Fe L-2,L-3 and N K edges. Probing of both the central Fe and the ligand N atoms enabled identification of the metal-and ligand-centered excited states, as well as ligand-to-metal and metal-to-ligand charge-transfer excited states. Ab initio calculations utilizing the RASPT2 method were used to simulate the Fe L-2,L-3-edge RIXS spectra and enabled quantification of the covalencies of both occupied and empty orbitals of pi and sigma symmetry. We found that pi back-donation in the ferric complex is smaller than that in the ferrous complex. This is evidenced by the relative amounts of Fe 3d character in the nominally 2 pi CN- molecular orbital of 7\% and 9\% in ferric and ferrous hexacyanide, respectively. Utilizing the direct sensitivity of Fe L-3-edge RIXS to the Fe 3d character in the occupied molecular orbitals, we also found that the donation interactions are dominated by sigma bonding. The latter was found to be stronger in the ferric complex, with an Fe 3d contribution to the nominally 5 sigma CN- molecular orbitals of 29\% compared to 20\% in the ferrous complex. These results are consistent with the notion that a higher charge at the central metal atom increases donation and decreases back-donation.}, language = {en} } @article{SchreckWernet2016, author = {Schreck, Simon and Wernet, Philippe}, title = {Isotope effects in liquid water probed by transmission mode x-ray absorption spectroscopy at the oxygen K-edge}, series = {The journal of chemical physics : bridges a gap between journals of physics and journals of chemistr}, volume = {145}, journal = {The journal of chemical physics : bridges a gap between journals of physics and journals of chemistr}, publisher = {American Institute of Physics}, address = {Melville}, issn = {0021-9606}, doi = {10.1063/1.4962237}, pages = {24 -- 32}, year = {2016}, abstract = {The effects of isotope substitution in liquid water are probed by x-ray absorption spectroscopy at the O K-edge as measured in transmission mode. Confirming earlier x-ray Raman scattering experiments, the D2O spectrum is found to be blue shifted with respect to H2O, and the D2O spectrum to be less broadened. Following the earlier interpretations of UV and x-ray Raman spectra, the shift is related to the difference in ground-state zero-point energies between D2O and H2O, while the difference in broadening is related to the difference in ground-state vibrational zero-point distributions. We demonstrate that the transmission-mode measurements allow for determining the spectral shapes with unprecedented accuracy. Owing in addition to the increased spectral resolution and signal to noise ratio compared to the earlier measurements, the new data enable the stringent determination of blue shift and broadening in the O K-edge x-ray absorption spectrum of liquid water upon isotope substitution. The results are compared to UV absorption data, and it is discussed to which extent they reflect the differences in zero-point energies and vibrational zero-point distributions in the ground-states of the liquids. The influence of the shape of the final-state potential, inclusion of the Franck-Condon structure, and differences between liquid H2O and D2O resulting from different hydrogen-bond environments in the liquids are addressed. The differences between the O K-edge absorption spectra of water from our transmission-mode measurements and from the state-of-the-art x-ray Raman scattering experiments are discussed in addition. The experimentally extracted values of blue shift and broadening are proposed to serve as a test for calculations of ground-state zero-point energies and vibrational zero-point distributions in liquid H2O and D2O. This clearly motivates the need for new calculations of the O K-edge x-ray absorption spectrum of liquid water. Published by AIP Publishing.}, language = {en} } @article{KunnusJosefssonRajkovicetal.2016, author = {Kunnus, Kristjan and Josefsson, Ida and Rajkovic, Ivan and Schreck, Simon and Quevedo, Wilson and Beye, Martin and Gr{\"u}bel, Sebastian and Scholz, Mirko and Nordlund, Dennis and Zhang, Wenkai and Hartsock, Robert W. and Gaffney, Kelly J. and Schlotter, William F. and Turner, Joshua J. and Kennedy, Brian and Hennies, Franz and Techert, Simone and Wernet, Philippe and Odelius, Michael and F{\"o}hlisch, Alexander}, title = {Anti-Stokes resonant x-ray Raman scattering for atom specific and excited state selective dynamics}, series = {NEW JOURNAL OF PHYSICS}, volume = {18}, journal = {NEW JOURNAL OF PHYSICS}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, issn = {1367-2630}, doi = {10.1088/1367-2630/18/10/103011}, pages = {9}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Ultrafast electronic and structural dynamics of matter govern rate and selectivity of chemical reactions, as well as phase transitions and efficient switching in functional materials. Since x-rays determine electronic and structural properties with elemental, chemical, orbital and magnetic selectivity, short pulse x-ray sources have become central enablers of ultrafast science. Despite of these strengths, ultrafast x-rays have been poor at picking up excited state moieties from the unexcited ones. With time-resolved anti-Stokes resonant x-ray Raman scattering (AS-RXRS) performed at the LCLS, and ab initio theory we establish background free excited state selectivity in addition to the elemental, chemical, orbital and magnetic selectivity of x-rays. This unparalleled selectivity extracts low concentration excited state species along the pathway of photo induced ligand exchange of Fe(CO)(5) in ethanol. Conceptually a full theoretical treatment of all accessible insights to excited state dynamics with AS-RXRS with transform-limited x-ray pulses is given-which will be covered experimentally by upcoming transform-limited x-ray sources.}, language = {en} } @article{YinRajkovicVeeduetal.2015, author = {Yin, Zhong and Rajkovic, Ivan and Veedu, Sreevidya Thekku and Deinert, Sascha and Raiser, Dirk and Jain, Rohit and Fukuzawa, Hironobu and Wada, Shin-ichi and Quevedo, Wilson and Kennedy, Brian and Schreck, Simon and Pietzsch, Annette and Wernet, Philippe and Ueda, Kyoshi and F{\"o}hlisch, Alexander and Techert, Simone}, title = {Ionic solutions probed by resonant inelastic X-ray scattering}, series = {Zeitschrift f{\"u}r physikalische Chemie : international journal of research in physical chemistry and chemical physics}, volume = {229}, journal = {Zeitschrift f{\"u}r physikalische Chemie : international journal of research in physical chemistry and chemical physics}, number = {10-12}, publisher = {De Gruyter}, address = {Berlin}, issn = {0942-9352}, doi = {10.1515/zpch-2015-0610}, pages = {1855 -- 1867}, year = {2015}, abstract = {X-ray spectroscopy is a powerful tool to study the local charge distribution of chemical systems. Together with the liquid jet it becomes possible to probe chemical systems in their natural environment, the liquid phase. In this work, we present X-ray absorption (XA), X-ray emission (XE) and resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) data of pure water and various salt solutions and show the possibilities these methods offer to elucidate the nature of ion-water interaction.}, language = {en} } @article{SellbergMcQueenLaksmonoetal.2015, author = {Sellberg, Jonas A. and McQueen, Trevor A. and Laksmono, Hartawan and Schreck, Simon and Beye, Martin and DePonte, Daniel P. and Kennedy, Brian and Nordlund, Dennis and Sierra, Raymond G. and Schlesinger, Daniel and Tokushima, Takashi and Zhovtobriukh, Iurii and Eckert, Sebastian and Segtnan, Vegard H. and Ogasawara, Hirohito and Kubicek, Katharina and Techert, Simone and Bergmann, Uwe and Dakovski, Georgi L. and Schlotter, William F. and Harada, Yoshihisa and Bogan, Michael J. and Wernet, Philippe and F{\"o}hlisch, Alexander and Pettersson, Lars G. M. and Nilsson, Anders}, title = {X-ray emission spectroscopy of bulk liquid water in "no-man's land"}, series = {The journal of chemical physics : bridges a gap between journals of physics and journals of chemistr}, volume = {142}, journal = {The journal of chemical physics : bridges a gap between journals of physics and journals of chemistr}, number = {4}, publisher = {American Institute of Physics}, address = {Melville}, issn = {0021-9606}, doi = {10.1063/1.4905603}, pages = {9}, year = {2015}, abstract = {The structure of bulk liquid water was recently probed by x-ray scattering below the temperature limit of homogeneous nucleation (T-H) of similar to 232 K [J. A. Sellberg et al., Nature 510, 381-384 (2014)]. Here, we utilize a similar approach to study the structure of bulk liquid water below T-H using oxygen K-edge x-ray emission spectroscopy (XES). Based on previous XES experiments [T. Tokushima et al., Chem. Phys. Lett. 460, 387-400 (2008)] at higher temperatures, we expected the ratio of the 1b(1)' and 1b(1)" peaks associated with the lone-pair orbital in water to change strongly upon deep supercooling as the coordination of the hydrogen (H-) bonds becomes tetrahedral. In contrast, we observed only minor changes in the lone-pair spectral region, challenging an interpretation in terms of two interconverting species. A number of alternative hypotheses to explain the results are put forward and discussed. Although the spectra can be explained by various contributions from these hypotheses, we here emphasize the interpretation that the line shape of each component changes dramatically when approaching lower temperatures, where, in particular, the peak assigned to the proposed disordered component would become more symmetrical as vibrational interference becomes more important. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.}, language = {en} } @article{WernetKunnusJosefssonetal.2015, author = {Wernet, Philippe and Kunnus, Kristjan and Josefsson, Ida and Rajkovic, Ivan and Quevedo, Wilson and Beye, Martin and Schreck, Simon and Gruebel, S. and Scholz, Mirko and Nordlund, Dennis and Zhang, Wenkai and Hartsock, Robert W. and Schlotter, William F. and Turner, Joshua J. and Kennedy, Brian and Hennies, Franz and de Groot, Frank M. F. and Gaffney, Kelly J. and Techert, Simone and Odelius, Michael and F{\"o}hlisch, Alexander}, title = {Orbital-specific mapping of the ligand exchange dynamics of Fe(CO)(5) in solution}, series = {Nature : the international weekly journal of science}, volume = {520}, journal = {Nature : the international weekly journal of science}, number = {7545}, publisher = {Nature Publ. Group}, address = {London}, issn = {0028-0836}, doi = {10.1038/nature14296}, pages = {78 -- 81}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Transition-metal complexes have long attracted interest for fundamental chemical reactivity studies and possible use in solar energy conversion(1,2). Electronic excitation, ligand loss from the metal centre, or a combination of both, creates changes in charge and spin density at the metal site(3-11) that need to be controlled to optimize complexes for photocatalytic hydrogen production(8) and selective carbon-hydrogen bond activation(9-11). 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(12,13) with an electron deficiency at the Fe centre(14,15), 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, 16-20), 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.}, language = {en} } @article{PremontSchwarzSchreckIannuzzietal.2015, author = {Premont-Schwarz, Mirabelle and Schreck, Simon and Iannuzzi, Marcella and Nibbering, Erik T. J. and Odelius, Michael and Wernet, Philippe}, title = {Correlating Infrared and X-ray Absorption Energies for Molecular-Level Insight into Hydrogen Bond Making and Breaking in Solution}, series = {The journal of physical chemistry : B, Condensed matter, materials, surfaces, interfaces \& biophysical chemistry}, volume = {119}, journal = {The journal of physical chemistry : B, Condensed matter, materials, surfaces, interfaces \& biophysical chemistry}, number = {25}, publisher = {American Chemical Society}, address = {Washington}, issn = {1520-6106}, doi = {10.1021/acs.jpcb.5b02954}, pages = {8115 -- 8124}, year = {2015}, abstract = {While ubiquitous, the making and breaking of hydrogen bonds in solution is notoriously difficult to study due to the associated complex changes of nuclear and electronic structures. With the aim to reduce the according uncertainty in correlating experimental observables and hydrogen-bond configurations, we combine the information from proximate methods to study the N-H center dot center dot center dot O hydrogen bond in solution. We investigate hydrogen-bonding of the N-H group of N-methylaniline with oxygen from liquid DMSO and acetone with infrared spectra in the N-H stretching region and X-ray absorption spectra at the N K-edge. We experimentally observe blue shifts of the infrared stretching band and an X-ray absorption pre-edge peak when going from DMSO to acetone. With ab initio molecular dynamics simulations and calculated spectra, we qualitatively reproduce the experimental observables but we do not reach quantitative agreement with experiment. The infrared spectra support the notion of weakening the N-H center dot center dot center dot O hydrogen bond from DMSO to acetone. However, we fail to theoretically reproduce the measured shift of the X-ray absorption pre-edge peak. We discuss possible shortcomings of the simulation models and spectrum calculations. Common features and distinct differences with the O-H center dot center dot center dot O hydrogen bond are highlighted, and the implications for monitoring hydrogen-bond breaking in solution are discussed.}, language = {en} } @article{KunnusSchreckFoehlisch2015, author = {Kunnus, Kristjan and Schreck, Simon and F{\"o}hlisch, Alexander}, title = {Free-electron laser based resonant inelastic X-ray scattering on molecules and liquids}, series = {Journal of electron spectroscopy and related phenomena : the international journal on theoretical and experimental aspects of electron spectroscopy}, volume = {204}, journal = {Journal of electron spectroscopy and related phenomena : the international journal on theoretical and experimental aspects of electron spectroscopy}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0368-2048}, doi = {10.1016/j.elspec.2015.08.012}, pages = {345 -- 355}, year = {2015}, abstract = {The unprecedented beam properties of free-electron laser based X-ray sources enable novel resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) experiments. Femtosecond time-resolved RIXS can be used to follow charge, spin and structural dynamics of dilute solute molecules in solution. Ultrashort X-ray pulses allow probing of highly radiation sensitive states of matter such as the metastable phase of supercooled liquid water. Nonlinear X-ray probes like amplified spontaneous emission and stimulated resonant X-ray scattering provide an enhanced selectivity and sensitivity as well as a path to control radiation damage and increase the photon yields in RIXS experiments. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} }