Refine
Has Fulltext
- no (14)
Document Type
- Article (14)
Language
- English (14)
Is part of the Bibliography
- yes (14)
Keywords
- RIXS (2)
- Anions (1)
- Cations (1)
- Free-electron laser (1)
- Liquid Jet (1)
- Liquids (1)
- Molecules (1)
- Nonlinear X-ray spectroscopy (1)
- Pump-probe (1)
- Synchrotron Radiation (1)
Institute
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.
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.
We report on oxygen K-edge soft x-ray emission spectroscopy from a liquid water jet at the Linac Coherent Light Source. We observe significant changes in the spectral content when tuning over a wide range of incident x-ray fluences. In addition the total emission yield decreases at high fluences. These modifications result from reabsorption of x-ray emission by valence-excited molecules generated by the Auger cascade. Our observations have major implications for future x-ray emission studies at intense x-ray sources. We highlight the importance of the x-ray pulse length with respect to the core-hole lifetime.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
Bonding of the Ni2+(aq) complex is investigated with an unprecedented combination of resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) measurements and ab initio calculations at the Ni L absorption edge. The spectra directly reflect the relative energies of the ligand-field and charge-transfer valence-excited states. They give element-specific access with atomic resolution to the ground-state electronic structure of the complex and allow quantification of ligand-field strength and 3d-3d electron correlation interactions in the Ni2+(aq) complex. The experimentally determined ligand-field strength is 10Dq = 1.1 eV. This and the Racah parameters characterizing 3d-3d Coulomb interactions B = 0.13 eV and C = 0.42 eV as readily derived from the measured energies match very well with the results from UV-vis spectroscopy. Our results demonstrate how L-edge RIXS can be used to complement existing spectroscopic tools for the investigation of bonding in 3d transition-metal coordination compounds in solution. The ab initio RASPT2 calculation is successfully used to simulate the L-edge RIXS spectra.
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.