Real-Time Probing of an Atmospheric Photochemical Reaction by Ultrashort Extreme Ultraviolet Pulses: Nitrous Acid Release from -Nitrophenol.

Photolysis of -nitrophenol, contained in brown carbon, is considered to be a major process for the generation of nitrous acid (HONO) in the atmosphere. In this Letter, we used time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy with 29.5 eV probe pulses and ab initio calculations to disentangle all reaction steps from the excitation to the dissociation of HONO.

Photoionization Dynamics of the Tetraoxo Complexes OsO and RuO.

The photoionization dynamics of OsO and RuO, chosen as model systems of small-size mononuclear heavy-metal complexes, has been theoretically studied by the time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). Accurate experimental measurements of photoionization dynamics as a benchmarking test for the theory are reported for the photoelectron asymmetry parameters of outer valence ionizations of OsO, measured in the 17-90 eV photon energy range. The theoretical results are in good agreement with the available experimental data.

Time-Resolved Photoelectron Spectroscopy Studies of Isoxazole and Oxazole.

The excited state relaxation pathways of isoxazole and oxazole upon excitation with UV-light were investigated by nonadiabatic ab initio dynamics simulations and time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy. Excitation of the bright ππ*-state of isoxazole predominantly leads to ring-opening dynamics. Both the initially excited ππ*-state and the dissociative πσ*-state offer a combined barrier-free reaction pathway, such that ring-opening, defined as a distance of more than 2 Å between two neighboring atoms, occurs within 45 fs.

Competition between ring-puckering and ring-opening excited state reactions exemplified on 5H-furan-2-one and derivatives.

The influence of ring-puckering on the light-induced ring-opening dynamics of heterocyclic compounds was studied on the sample 5-membered ring molecules γ-valerolactone and 5H-furan-2-one using time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. In γ-valerolactone, ring-puckering is not a viable relaxation channel and the only available reaction pathway is ring-opening, which occurs within one vibrational period along the C-O bond. In 5H-furan-2-one, the C=C double bond in the ring allows for ring-puckering which slows down the ring-opening process by about 150 fs while only marginally reducing its quantum yield.

Time-Resolved Photoelectron Studies of Thiophene and 2,5-Dimethylthiophene.

The photoinduced dynamics of thiophene and 2,5-dimethylthiophene (2,5-DMT) were investigated upon excitation at 200 and 255 nm (2,5-DMT only) using time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy and compared with results from ab initio coupled cluster calculations. For thiophene, depopulation of the initially excited B(ππ*) state to the lower-lying A(ππ*) state occurs within 25 ± 20 fs, with a subsequent bifurcation into a ring-puckering channel and a ring-opening channel with lifetimes of 80 ± 20 and 450 ± 50 fs, respectively. For 2,5-DMT, the dynamics following excitation at 200 nm is described by a monoexponential decay with a time constant of 120 ± 20 fs, while that following excitation at 255 nm is best fit by a biexponential decay with time constants of 115 ± 20 fs and 15 ± 3 ps, respectively.