TY - JOUR A1 - Eckert, Sebastian A1 - Norell, Jesper A1 - Miedema, Piter S. A1 - Beye, Martin A1 - Fondell, Mattis A1 - Quevedo, Wilson A1 - Kennedy, Brian A1 - Hantschmann, Markus A1 - Pietzsch, Annette A1 - Van Kuiken, Benjamin E. A1 - Ross, Matthew A1 - Minitti, Michael P. A1 - Moeller, Stefan P. A1 - Schlotter, William F. A1 - Khalil, Munira A1 - Odelius, Michael A1 - Föhlisch, Alexander T1 - Ultrafast Independent N-H and N-C Bond Deformation Investigated with Resonant Inelastic X-Ray Scattering JF - Angewandte Chemie : a journal of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker ; International edition N2 - The femtosecond excited-state dynamics following resonant photoexcitation enable the selective deformation of N-H and N-C chemical bonds in 2-thiopyridone in aqueous solution with optical or X-ray pulses. In combination with multiconfigurational quantum-chemical calculations, the orbital-specific electronic structure and its ultrafast dynamics accessed with resonant inelastic X-ray scattering at the N 1s level using synchrotron radiation and the soft X-ray free-electron laser LCLS provide direct evidence for this controlled photoinduced molecular deformation and its ultrashort time-scale. KW - nitrogen KW - photochemistry KW - protonation KW - RIXS (resonant inelastic X-ray scattering) KW - selective bond cleavage Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201700239 SN - 1433-7851 SN - 1521-3773 VL - 56 SP - 6088 EP - 6092 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wolf, Thomas J. A. A1 - Sanchez, David M. A1 - Yang, J. A1 - Parrish, R. M. A1 - Nunes, J. P. F. A1 - Centurion, M. A1 - Coffee, R. A1 - Cryan, J. P. A1 - Gühr, Markus A1 - Hegazy, Kareem A1 - Kirrander, Adam A1 - Li, R. K. A1 - Ruddock, J. A1 - Shen, Xiaozhe A1 - Vecchione, T. A1 - Weathersby, S. P. A1 - Weber, Peter M. A1 - Wilkin, K. A1 - Yong, Haiwang A1 - Zheng, Q. A1 - Wang, X. J. A1 - Minitti, Michael P. A1 - Martinez, Todd J. T1 - The photochemical ring-opening of 1,3-cyclohexadiene imaged by ultrafast electron diffraction JF - Nature chemistry N2 - The ultrafast photoinduced ring-opening of 1,3-cyclohexadiene constitutes a textbook example of electrocyclic reactions in organic chemistry and a model for photobiological reactions in vitamin D synthesis. Although the relaxation from the photoexcited electronic state during the ring-opening has been investigated in numerous studies, the accompanying changes in atomic distance have not been resolved. Here we present a direct and unambiguous observation of the ring-opening reaction path on the femtosecond timescale and subangstrom length scale using megaelectronvolt ultrafast electron diffraction. We followed the carbon-carbon bond dissociation and the structural opening of the 1,3-cyclohexadiene ring by the direct measurement of time-dependent changes in the distribution of interatomic distances. We observed a substantial acceleration of the ring-opening motion after internal conversion to the ground state due to a steepening of the electronic potential gradient towards the product minima. The ring-opening motion transforms into rotation of the terminal ethylene groups in the photoproduct 1,3,5-hexatriene on the subpicosecond timescale. KW - Organic chemistry KW - Photochemistry KW - Physical chemistry KW - Theoretical chemistry Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-019-0252-7 SN - 1755-4330 SN - 1755-4349 VL - 11 IS - 6 SP - 504 EP - 509 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Xin, Hong A1 - LaRue, Jerry A1 - Oberg, Henrik A1 - Beye, Martin A1 - Turner, J. J. A1 - Gladh, Jörgen A1 - Ng, May L. A1 - Sellberg, Jonas A. A1 - Kaya, Sarp A1 - Mercurio, G. A1 - Hieke, F. A1 - Nordlund, Dennis A1 - Schlotter, William F. A1 - Dakovski, Georgi L. A1 - Minitti, Michael P. A1 - Föhlisch, Alexander A1 - Wolf, Martin A1 - Wurth, Wilfried A1 - Ogasawara, Hirohito A1 - Norskov, Jens K. A1 - Ostrom, Henrik A1 - Pettersson, Lars G. M. A1 - Nilsson, Anders A1 - Abild-Pedersen, Frank T1 - Strong Influence of Coadsorbate Interaction on CO Desorption Dynamics on Ru(0001) Probed by Ultrafast X-Ray Spectroscopy and Ab Initio Simulations JF - Physical review letters N2 - We show that coadsorbed oxygen atoms have a dramatic influence on the CO desorption dynamics from Ru(0001). In contrast to the precursor-mediated desorption mechanism on Ru(0001), the presence of surface oxygen modifies the electronic structure of Ru atoms such that CO desorption occurs predominantly via the direct pathway. This phenomenon is directly observed in an ultrafast pump-probe experiment using a soft x-ray free-electron laser to monitor the dynamic evolution of the valence electronic structure of the surface species. This is supported with the potential of mean force along the CO desorption path obtained from density-functional theory calculations. Charge density distribution and frozen-orbital analysis suggest that the oxygen-induced reduction of the Pauli repulsion, and consequent increase of the dative interaction between the CO 5 sigma and the charged Ru atom, is the electronic origin of the distinct desorption dynamics. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of CO desorption from Ru(0001) and oxygen-coadsorbed Ru(0001) provide further insights into the surface bond-breaking process. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.156101 SN - 0031-9007 SN - 1079-7114 VL - 114 IS - 15 PB - American Physical Society CY - College Park ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kubin, Markus A1 - Kern, Jan A1 - Gul, Sheraz A1 - Kroll, Thomas A1 - Chatterjee, Ruchira A1 - Loechel, Heike A1 - Fuller, Franklin D. A1 - Sierra, Raymond G. A1 - Quevedo, Wilson A1 - Weniger, Christian A1 - Rehanek, Jens A1 - Firsov, Anatoly A1 - Laksmono, Hartawan A1 - Weninger, Clemens A1 - Alonso-Mori, Roberto A1 - Nordlund, Dennis L. A1 - Lassalle-Kaiser, Benedikt A1 - Glownia, James M. A1 - Krzywinski, Jacek A1 - Moeller, Stefan A1 - Turner, Joshua J. A1 - Minitti, Michael P. A1 - Dakovski, Georgi L. A1 - Koroidov, Sergey A1 - Kawde, Anurag A1 - Kanady, Jacob S. A1 - Tsui, Emily Y. A1 - Suseno, Sandy A1 - Han, Zhiji A1 - Hill, Ethan A1 - Taguchi, Taketo A1 - Borovik, Andrew S. A1 - Agapie, Theodor A1 - Messinger, Johannes A1 - Erko, Alexei A1 - Föhlisch, Alexander A1 - Bergmann, Uwe A1 - Mitzner, Rolf A1 - Yachandra, Vittal K. A1 - Yano, Junko A1 - Wernet, Philippe T1 - Soft x-ray absorption spectroscopy of metalloproteins and high-valent metal-complexes at room temperature using free-electron lasers JF - Structural dynamics N2 - X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the L-edge of 3d transition metals provides unique information on the local metal charge and spin states by directly probing 3d-derived molecular orbitals through 2p-3d transitions. However, this soft x-ray technique has been rarely used at synchrotron facilities for mechanistic studies of metalloenzymes due to the difficulties of x-ray-induced sample damage and strong background signals from light elements that can dominate the low metal signal. Here, we combine femtosecond soft x-ray pulses from a free-electron laser with a novel x-ray fluorescence-yield spectrometer to overcome these difficulties. We present L-edge absorption spectra of inorganic high-valent Mn complexes (Mn similar to 6-15 mmol/l) with no visible effects of radiation damage. We also present the first L-edge absorption spectra of the oxygen evolving complex (Mn4CaO5) in Photosystem II (Mn < 1 mmol/l) at room temperature, measured under similar conditions. Our approach opens new ways to study metalloenzymes under functional conditions. (C) 2017 Author(s). Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4986627 SN - 2329-7778 VL - 4 PB - American Institute of Physics CY - Melville ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Eckert, Sebastian A1 - Beye, Martin A1 - Pietzsch, Annette A1 - Quevedo, Wilson A1 - Hantschmann, Markus A1 - Ochmann, Miguel A1 - Ross, Matthew A1 - Minitti, Michael P. A1 - Turner, Joshua J. A1 - Moeller, Stefan P. A1 - Schlotter, William F. A1 - Dakovski, Georgi L. A1 - Khalil, Munira A1 - Huse, Nils A1 - Föhlisch, Alexander T1 - Principles of femtosecond X-ray/optical cross-correlation with X-ray induced transient optical reflectivity in solids JF - Applied physics letters N2 - The discovery of ultrafast X-ray induced optical reflectivity changes enabled the development of X-ray/optical cross correlation techniques at X-ray free electron lasers worldwide. We have now linked through experiment and theory the fundamental excitation and relaxation steps with the transient optical properties in finite solid samples. Therefore, we gain a thorough interpretation and an optimized detection scheme of X-ray induced changes to the refractive index and the X-ray/optical cross correlation response. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4907949 SN - 0003-6951 SN - 1077-3118 VL - 106 IS - 6 PB - American Institute of Physics CY - Melville ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mitzner, Rolf A1 - Rehanek, Jens A1 - Kern, Jan A1 - Gul, Sheraz A1 - Hattne, Johan A1 - Taguchi, Taketo A1 - Alonso-Mori, Roberto A1 - Tran, Rosalie A1 - Weniger, Christian A1 - Schröder, Henning A1 - Quevedo, Wilson A1 - Laksmono, Hartawan A1 - Sierra, Raymond G. A1 - Han, Guangye A1 - Lassalle-Kaiser, Benedikt A1 - Koroidov, Sergey A1 - Kubicek, Katharina A1 - Schreck, Simon A1 - Kunnus, Kristjan A1 - Brzhezinskaya, Maria A1 - Firsov, Alexander A1 - Minitti, Michael P. A1 - Turner, Joshua J. A1 - Möller, Stefan A1 - Sauter, Nicholas K. A1 - Bogan, Michael J. A1 - Nordlund, Dennis A1 - Schlotter, William F. A1 - Messinger, Johannes A1 - Borovik, Andrew S. A1 - Techert, Simone A1 - de Groot, Frank M. F. A1 - Föhlisch, Alexander A1 - Erko, Alexei A1 - Bergmann, Uwe A1 - Yachandra, Vittal K. A1 - Wernet, Philippe A1 - Yano, Junko T1 - L-edge x-ray absorption spectroscopy of dilute systems relevant to metalloproteins using an X-ray free-electron laser JF - The journal of physical chemistry letters N2 - L-edge spectroscopy of 3d transition metals provides important electronic structure information and has been used in many fields. However, the use of this method for studying dilute aqueous systems, such as metalloenzymes, has not been prevalent because of severe radiation damage and the lack of suitable detection systems. Here we present spectra from a dilute Mn aqueous solution using a high-transmission zone-plate spectrometer at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). The spectrometer has been optimized for discriminating the Mn L-edge signal from the overwhelming 0 K-edge background that arises from water and protein itself, and the ultrashort LCLS X-ray pulses can outrun X-ray induced damage. We show that the deviations of the partial-fluorescence yield-detected spectra from the true absorption can be well modeled using the state-dependence of the fluorescence yield, and discuss implications for the application of our concept to biological samples. Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/jz401837f SN - 1948-7185 VL - 4 IS - 21 SP - 3641 EP - 3647 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jay, Raphael M. A1 - Norell, Jesper A1 - Eckert, Sebastian A1 - Hantschmann, Markus A1 - Beye, Martin A1 - Kennedy, Brian A1 - Quevedo, Wilson A1 - Schlotter, William F. A1 - Dakovski, Georgi L. A1 - Minitti, Michael P. A1 - Hoffmann, Matthias C. A1 - Mitra, Ankush A1 - Moeller, Stefan P. A1 - Nordlund, Dennis A1 - Zhang, Wenkai A1 - Liang, Huiyang W. A1 - Kunnus, Kristian A1 - Kubicek, Katharina A1 - Techert, Simone A. A1 - Lundberg, Marcus A1 - Wernet, Philippe A1 - Gaffney, Kelly A1 - Odelius, Michael A1 - Föhlisch, Alexander T1 - Disentangling Transient Charge Density and Metal-Ligand Covalency in Photoexcited Ferricyanide with Femtosecond Resonant Inelastic Soft X-ray Scattering JF - The journal of physical chemistry letters N2 - Soft X-ray spectroscopies are ideal probes of the local valence electronic structure of photocatalytically active metal sites. Here, we apply the selectivity of time resolved resonant inelastic X-ray scattering at the iron L-edge to the transient charge distribution of an optically excited charge-transfer state in aqueous ferricyanide. Through comparison to steady-state spectra and quantum chemical calculations, the coupled effects of valence-shell closing and ligand-hole creation are experimentally and theoretically disentangled and described in terms of orbital occupancy, metal-ligand covalency, and ligand field splitting, thereby extending established steady-state concepts to the excited-state domain. pi-Back-donation is found to be mainly determined by the metal site occupation, whereas the ligand hole instead influences sigma-donation. Our results demonstrate how ultrafast resonant inelastic X-ray scattering can help characterize local charge distributions around catalytic metal centers in short-lived charge-transfer excited states, as a step toward future rationalization and tailoring of photocatalytic capabilities of transition-metal complexes. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.8b01429 SN - 1948-7185 VL - 9 IS - 12 SP - 3538 EP - 3543 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Beye, Martin A1 - Öberg, Henrik A1 - Xin, Hongliang A1 - Dakovski, Georgi L. A1 - Föhlisch, Alexander A1 - Gladh, Jorgen A1 - Hantschmann, Markus A1 - Hieke, Florian A1 - Kaya, Sarp A1 - Kühn, Danilo A1 - LaRue, Jerry A1 - Mercurio, Giuseppe A1 - Minitti, Michael P. A1 - Mitra, Ankush A1 - Moeller, Stefan P. A1 - Ng, May Ling A1 - Nilsson, Anders A1 - Nordlund, Dennis A1 - Norskov, Jens A1 - Öström, Henrik A1 - Ogasawara, Hirohito A1 - Persson, Mats A1 - Schlotter, William F. A1 - Sellberg, Jonas A. A1 - Wolf, Martin A1 - Abild-Pedersen, Frank A1 - Pettersson, Lars G. M. A1 - Wurth, Wilfried T1 - Chemical Bond Activation Observed with an X-ray Laser JF - The journal of physical chemistry letters N2 - The concept of bonding and antibonding orbitals is fundamental in chemistry. The population of those orbitals and the energetic difference between the two reflect the strength of the bonding interaction. Weakening the bond is expected to reduce this energetic splitting, but the transient character of bond-activation has so far prohibited direct experimental access. Here we apply time-resolved soft X-ray spectroscopy at a free electron laser to directly observe the decreased bonding antibonding splitting following bond-activation using an ultrashort optical laser pulse. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.6b01543 SN - 1948-7185 VL - 7 SP - 3647 EP - 3651 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER -