@article{PietzschNiskanenVazdaCruzetal.2022, author = {Pietzsch, Annette and Niskanen, Johannes and Vaz da Cruz, Vinicius and B{\"u}chner, Robby and Eckert, Sebastian and Fondell, Mattis and Jay, Raphael Martin and Lu, Xingye and McNally, Daniel and Schmitt, Thorsten and F{\"o}hlisch, Alexander}, title = {Cuts through the manifold of molecular H2O potential energy surfaces in liquid water at ambient conditions}, series = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America}, volume = {119}, journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America}, number = {28}, publisher = {National Acad. of Sciences}, address = {Washington, DC}, issn = {1091-6490}, doi = {10.1073/pnas.2118101119}, pages = {6}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The fluctuating hydrogen bridge bonded network of liquid water at ambient conditions entails a varied ensemble of the underlying constituting H2O molecular moieties. This is mirrored in a manifold of the H2O molecular potentials. Subnatural line width resonant inelastic X-ray scattering allowed us to quantify the manifold of molecular potential energy surfaces along the H2O symmetric normal mode and the local asymmetric O-H bond coordinate up to 1 and 1.5 angstrom, respectively. The comparison of the single H2O molecular potentials and spectroscopic signatures with the ambient conditions liquid phase H2O molecular potentials is done on various levels. In the gas phase, first principles, Morse potentials, and stepwise harmonic potential reconstruction have been employed and benchmarked. In the liquid phase the determination of the potential energy manifold along the local asymmetric O-H bond coordinate from resonant inelastic X-ray scattering via the bound state oxygen ls to 4a(1) resonance is treated within these frameworks. The potential energy surface manifold along the symmetric stretch from resonant inelastic X-ray scattering via the oxygen 1 s to 2b(2) resonance is based on stepwise harmonic reconstruction. We find in liquid water at ambient conditions H2O molecular potentials ranging from the weak interaction limit to strongly distorted potentials which are put into perspective to established parameters, i.e., intermolecular O-H, H-H, and O-O correlation lengths from neutron scattering.}, language = {en} } @article{MascarenhasFondellBuechneretal.2022, author = {Mascarenhas, Eric Johnn and Fondell, Mattis and B{\"u}chner, Robby and Eckert, Sebastian and Vaz da Cruz, Vin{\´i}cius and F{\"o}hlisch, Alexander}, title = {Photo-induced ligand substitution of Cr(CO)(6) in 1-pentanol probed by time resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy}, series = {Physical chemistry, chemical physics : a journal of European Chemical Societies}, volume = {24}, journal = {Physical chemistry, chemical physics : a journal of European Chemical Societies}, number = {30}, publisher = {Royal Society of Chemistry}, address = {Cambridge}, issn = {1463-9076}, doi = {10.1039/d1cp05834g}, pages = {17979 -- 17985}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Cr(CO)(6) was investigated by X-ray absorption spectroscopy. The spectral signature at the metal edge provides information about the back-bonding of the metal in this class of complexes. Among the processes it participates in is ligand substitution in which a carbonyl ligand is ejected through excitation to a metal to ligand charge transfer (MLCT) band. The unsaturated carbonyl Cr(CO)(5) is stabilized by solution media in square pyramidal geometry and further reacts with the solvent. Multi-site-specific probing after photoexcitation was used to investigate the ligand substitution photoreaction process which is a common first step in catalytic processes involving metal carbonyls. The data were analysed with the aid of TD-DFT computations for different models of photoproducts and signatures for ligand rearrangement after substitution were found. The rearrangement was found to occur in about 790 ps in agreement with former studies of the photoreaction.}, language = {en} } @article{VazdaCruzBuechnerFondelletal.2022, author = {Vaz da Cruz, Vinicius and B{\"u}chner, Robby and Fondell, Mattis and Pietzsch, Annette and Eckert, Sebastian and F{\"o}hlisch, Alexander}, title = {Targeting individual tautomers in equilibrium by resonant inelastic X-ray scattering}, series = {The journal of physical chemistry letters}, volume = {13}, journal = {The journal of physical chemistry letters}, number = {10}, publisher = {American Chemical Society}, address = {Washington}, issn = {1948-7185}, doi = {10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c03453}, pages = {2459 -- 2466}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Tautomerism is one of the most important forms of isomerism, owing to the facile interconversion between species and the large differences in chemical properties introduced by the proton transfer connecting the tautomers. Spectroscopic techniques are often used for the characterization of tautomers. In this context, separating the overlapping spectral response of coexisting tautomers is a long-standing challenge in chemistry. Here, we demonstrate that by using resonant inelastic X-ray scattering tuned to the core excited states at the site of proton exchange between tautomers one is able to experimentally disentangle the manifold of valence excited states of each tautomer in a mixture. The technique is applied to the prototypical keto-enol equilibrium of 3-hydroxypyridine in aqueous solution. We detect transitions from the occupied orbitals into the LUMO for each tautomer in solution, which report on intrinsic and hydrogen-bond-induced orbital polarization within the pi and sigma manifolds at the proton-transfer site.}, language = {en} } @article{EckertMascarenhasMitzneretal.2022, author = {Eckert, Sebastian and Mascarenhas, Eric Johnn and Mitzner, Rolf and Jay, Raphael Martin and Pietzsch, Annette and Fondell, Mattis and Vaz da Cruz, Vinicius and F{\"o}hlisch, Alexander}, title = {From the free ligand to the transition metal complex}, series = {Inorganic chemistry}, volume = {61}, journal = {Inorganic chemistry}, number = {27}, publisher = {American Chemical Society}, address = {Washington}, issn = {0020-1669}, doi = {10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c00789}, pages = {10321 -- 10328}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Chelating agents are an integral part of transition metal complex chemistry with broad biological and industrial relevance. The hexadentate chelating agent ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) has the capability to bind to metal ions at its two nitrogen and four of its carboxylate oxygen sites. We use resonant inelastic X-ray scattering at the 1s absorption edge of the aforementioned elements in EDTA and the iron(III)-EDTA complex to investigate the impact of the metal-ligand bond formation on the electronic structure of EDTA. Frontier orbital distortions, occupation changes, and energy shifts through metal- ligand bond formation are probed through distinct spectroscopic signatures.}, language = {en} } @article{BuechnerdaCruzGroveretal.2022, author = {B{\"u}chner, Robby and da Cruz, Vinicius Vaz and Grover, Nitika and Charisiadis, Asterios and Fondell, Mattis and Haverkamp, Robert and Senge, Mathias O. and F{\"o}hlisch, Alexander}, title = {Fundamental electronic changes upon intersystem crossing in large aromatic photosensitizers: free base 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-carboxylatophenyl)porphyrin}, series = {Physical chemistry, chemical physics : a journal of European Chemical Societies}, volume = {24}, journal = {Physical chemistry, chemical physics : a journal of European Chemical Societies}, number = {12}, publisher = {Royal Society of Chemistry}, address = {Cambridge}, issn = {1463-9076}, doi = {10.1039/d1cp05420a}, pages = {7505 -- 7511}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Free base 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-carboxylatophenyl)porphyrin stands for the class of powerful porphyrin photosensitizers for singlet oxygen generation and light-harvesting. The atomic level selectivity of dynamic UV pump - N K-edge probe X-ray absorption spectroscopy in combination with time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) gives direct access to the crucial excited molecular states within the unusual relaxation pathway. The efficient intersystem crossing, that is El-Sayed forbidden and not facilitated by a heavy atom is confirmed to be the result of the long singlet excited state lifetime (Q(x) 4.9 ns) and thermal effects. Overall, the interplay of stabilization by conservation of angular momenta and vibronic relaxation drive the de-excitation in these chromophores.}, language = {en} }