Mid-Infrared Pulse Shaping and Two-Dimensional Spectroscopy of Open Quantum Systems in Liquid Solution.

Abstract

The primary focus of this work is the development of a mid-infrared pulse shaping system. The primary motivation for this system is for two-dimensional infrared (2DIR) spectroscopy, however, the mid-infrared pulse shaper also allows for more sophisticated spectroscopic experiments not previously attempted in the mid-infrared. Moreover, many can be implemented without changes or realignment of the optical setup. Example spectra are presented along with a discussion of capabilities and diagnostics.

A second major project presented is 2DIR spectroscopy of iron pentacarbonyl, Fe(CO)5, a small metal carbonyl. This molecule undergoes Berry pseudorotation, a form of fluxtionality. This fast exchange of ligands mixes axial and equatorial modes and occurs on a timescale of picoseconds, too fast for NMR and other methods of measuring chemical structure and isomerization. Ultrafast chemical exchange spectroscopy, a measurement within 2DIR spectroscopy, is capable of resolving the time scales of this motion. We found that this process is affected by the solvent environment, specifically the solvent viscosity in alkanes and hydrogen bonding environments in alcohols.

Lastly, a study is presented in which a series of synthetic metalloenzymes with a metal active site are studied by 2DIR spectroscopy. In this case a carbonyl is ligated to a copper-I atom in the active site, which then serves as our spectroscopic probe. We find, unexpectedly, that the shape of the carbonyl vibrational potential, as measured by the anharmonicity, is time-dependent. We attribute this to a geometrical re-arrangement and are able to suggest that this effect is dependent on local site structure and dynamics and not significantly affected by electric potential near the peptide.