Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Following excited-state chemical shifts in molecular ultrafast x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [2];  [4];  [5];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [6];  [7];  [5];  [2];  [5];  [1];  [8];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Potsdam (Germany)
  2. Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany)
  3. Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany); Univ. of Hamburg (Germany)
  4. Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (Germany)
  5. Univ. of Gothenburg (Sweden)
  6. European XFEL, Schenefeld (Germany)
  7. Univ. of Potsdam (Germany); Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany); Univ. of Hamburg (Germany)
  8. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
The conversion of photon energy into other energetic forms in molecules is accompanied by charge moving on ultrafast timescales. We directly observe the charge motion at a specific site in an electronically excited molecule using time-resolved x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (TR-XPS). We extend the concept of static chemical shift from conventional XPS by the excited-state chemical shift (ESCS), which is connected to the charge in the framework of a potential model. This allows us to invert TR-XPS spectra to the dynamic charge at a specific atom. We demonstrate the power of TR-XPS by using sulphur 2p-core-electron-emission probing to study the UV-excited dynamics of 2-thiouracil. The method allows us to discover that a major part of the population relaxes to the molecular ground state within 220–250 fs. In addition, a 250-fs oscillation, visible in the kinetic energy of the TR-XPS, reveals a coherent exchange of population among electronic states.
Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
European Research Council; Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF); German Research Foundation (DFG); Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation; Swedish Research Council; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Chemical Sciences, Geosciences & Biosciences Division
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1862324
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 13; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (53)

A Unified Experimental/Theoretical Description of the Ultrafast Photophysics of Single and Double Thionated Uracils journal December 2019
On the origin of core-level binding energy shifts journal December 1995
Intersystem crossing dynamics in singly substituted thiouracil studied by time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy: Micro-environmental effects due to sulfur position journal November 2018
Novel DNA lesions generated by the interaction between therapeutic thiopurines and UVA light journal March 2007
Efficient DNA interstrand crosslinking by 6-thioguanine and UVA radiation journal August 2011
Many – Body Methods in Chemistry and Physics book January 2009
Quantum Mechanical Studies on the Photophysics and the Photochemistry of Nucleic Acids and Nucleobases journal March 2016
Nonadiabatic Dynamics May Be Probed through Electronic Coherence in Time-Resolved Photoelectron Spectroscopy journal January 2016
A Static Picture of the Relaxation and Intersystem Crossing Mechanisms of Photoexcited 2-Thiouracil journal August 2015
Intersystem Crossing Pathways in the Noncanonical Nucleobase 2-Thiouracil: A Time-Dependent Picture journal May 2016
Spectroscopic Signature of Chemical Bond Dissociation Revealed by Calculated Core-Electron Spectra journal October 2019
Ultrafast X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy journal April 2004
Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer journal April 2012
Ultrafast Intersystem Crossing in Acetylacetone via Femtosecond X-ray Transient Absorption at the Carbon K-Edge journal November 2017
Observation of the Sub-100 Femtosecond Population of a Dark State in a Thiobase Mediating Intersystem Crossing journal October 2018
Tautomerism in 4-Hydroxypyrimidine, S -Methyl-2-thiouracil, and 2-Thiouracil journal December 2010
Atomic-Scale Perspective of Ultrafast Charge Transfer at a Dye–Semiconductor Interface journal July 2014
Direct observation of electron dynamics in the attosecond domain journal July 2005
Tracking excited-state charge and spin dynamics in iron coordination complexes journal May 2014
Probing ultrafast ππ*/nπ* internal conversion in organic chromophores via K-edge resonant absorption journal June 2017
X-Ray Free Electron Lasers book August 2017
Functionalisation and immobilisation of an Au(110) surface via uracil and 2-thiouracil anchored layer journal January 2015
Internal conversion and intersystem crossing pathways in UV excited, isolated uracils and their implications in prebiotic chemistry journal January 2016
Beyond structure: ultrafast X-ray absorption spectroscopy as a probe of non-adiabatic wavepacket dynamics journal January 2016
2-Thiouracil intersystem crossing photodynamics studied by wavelength-dependent photoelectron and transient absorption spectroscopies journal January 2017
Dyson orbitals within the fc-CVS-EOM-CCSD framework: theory and application to X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of ground and excited states journal January 2020
Exploring the capabilities of optical pump X-ray probe NEXAFS spectroscopy to track photo-induced dynamics mediated by conical intersections journal January 2020
Communication: The dark singlet state as a doorway state in the ultrafast and efficient intersystem crossing dynamics in 2-thiothymine and 2-thiouracil journal February 2014
Photoelectron spectra of 2-thiouracil, 4-thiouracil, and 2,4-dithiouracil journal February 2016
Excited state X-ray absorption spectroscopy: Probing both electronic and structural dynamics journal October 2016
Surface hopping dynamics including intersystem crossing using the algebraic diagrammatic construction method journal November 2017
Time-resolved electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis of photodissociation: Photoelectron spectra of Fe(CO) 5 , Fe(CO) 4 , and Fe(CO) 3 journal July 2018
An efficient first principles method for molecular pump-probe NEXAFS spectra: Application to thymine and azobenzene journal October 2018
An assessment of different electronic structure approaches for modeling time-resolved x-ray absorption spectroscopy journal March 2021
Advances in molecular quantum chemistry contained in the Q-Chem 4 program package journal September 2014
Binding Energies and Chemical Shifts in ESCA journal March 1974
Roadmap of ultrafast x-ray atomic and molecular physics journal January 2018
Ultrafast dynamics of 2-thiouracil investigated by time-resolved Auger spectroscopy journal January 2020
Simultaneous operation of two soft x-ray free-electron lasers driven by one linear accelerator journal June 2016
Time-resolved inner-shell photoelectron spectroscopy: From a bound molecule to an isolated atom journal April 2018
Ultrafast X-Ray Spectroscopy of Conical Intersections journal June 2018
Coupled-cluster theory in quantum chemistry journal February 2007
Photochemical and Photodynamical Properties of Sulfur-Substituted Nucleic Acid Bases, journal September 2018
Time-resolved x-ray absorption spectroscopy with a water window high-harmonic source journal January 2017
Femtosecond x-ray spectroscopy of an electrocyclic ring-opening reaction journal April 2017
Observation of the fastest chemical processes in the radiolysis of water journal January 2020
Conical Intersections: Theory, Computation and Experiment book November 2011
Isomerization Through Conical Intersections journal May 2007
Equation-of-Motion Coupled-Cluster Methods for Open-Shell and Electronically Excited Species: The Hitchhiker's Guide to Fock Space journal May 2008
URSA-PQ: A Mobile and Flexible Pump-Probe Instrument for Gas Phase Samples at the FLASH Free Electron Laser journal November 2020
Photophysics and Photochemistry of Canonical Nucleobases’ Thioanalogs: From Quantum Mechanical Studies to Time Resolved Experiments journal June 2017
Simulated and Experimental Time-Resolved Photoelectron Spectra of the Intersystem Crossing Dynamics in 2-Thiouracil journal November 2018
Simultaneous operation of two soft x-ray free-electron lasers driven by one linear accelerator audiovisual January 2016

Similar Records

Chemical bond reorganization in intramolecular proton transfer revealed by ultrafast X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
Journal Article · Wed Apr 17 20:00:00 EDT 2024 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · OSTI ID:2338221

Ultrafast dynamics of 2-thiouracil investigated by time-resolved Auger spectroscopy
Journal Article · Wed Dec 16 19:00:00 EST 2020 · Journal of Physics. B, Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics · OSTI ID:1717687