Publications by authors named "Ruth A Livingstone"

Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates how the molecular structure of water interacts with the surface of anatase TiO, which is important for understanding photocatalytic water dissociation and superhydrophilicity.
  • Using advanced spectroscopy and molecular simulations, the researchers identify two groups of water molecules based on their hydrogen bonding with the TiO surface.
  • The presence of weakly and strongly hydrogen-bonded water molecules explains the phenomenon of superhydrophilicity, as their interactions enhance water's attraction to the TiO surface.
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Water in contact with lipids is an important aspect of most biological systems and has been termed "biological water". We used time-resolved infrared spectroscopy to investigate the vibrational dynamics of lipid-bound water molecules, to shed more light on the properties of these important molecules. We studied water in contact with a positively charged lipid monolayer using surface-specific two-dimensional sum frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy with subpicosecond time resolution.

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Ice-nucleating organisms play important roles in the environment. With their ability to induce ice formation at temperatures just below the ice melting point, bacteria such as Pseudomonas syringae attack plants through frost damage using specialized ice-nucleating proteins. Besides the impact on agriculture and microbial ecology, airborne P.

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The non-adiabatic relaxation dynamics of the tertiary cage-amine azabicyclo[2.2.2]octane (ABCO, also known as quinuclidine) have been investigated following 3p Rydberg excitation at 201 nm using femtosecond time-resolved photoelectron imaging (TRPEI).

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Article Synopsis
  • Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) is a common surfactant used in detergents, creating a monolayer on water's surface.
  • Microscopic studies using advanced spectroscopy revealed two subensembles of water near SDS: one with isolated O-H groups and another with delocalized O-H vibrations.
  • These two groups of water molecules exchange energy rapidly, showing unique hydrogen-bonding behaviors compared to water at the air-water interface.
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Time-resolved photoelectron imaging was used to investigate the relaxation dynamics of electronically excited aniline in the gas-phase following ultraviolet irradiation in the 273-266 nm region. We find that at all wavelengths studied, excitation is predominantly to the long-lived (>1 ns) S1(ππ(*)) state, which exhibits ultrafast intramolecular vibrational redistribution on a <1 ps timescale. At excitation wavelengths centred on resonant transitions in the aniline absorption spectrum that have previously been assigned to the higher lying S2(3s∕πσ(*)) state, we also see clear evidence of this state playing a role in the dynamics.

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Time-resolved photoelectron imaging was used to investigate the dynamical evolution of the initially prepared S(1) (ππ*) excited state of phenol (hydroxybenzene), catechol (1,2-dihydroxybenzene), resorcinol (1,3-dihydroxybenzene), and hydroquinone (1,4-dihydroxybenzene) following excitation at 267 nm. Our analysis was supported by ab initio calculations at the coupled-cluster and CASSCF levels of theory. In all cases, we observe rapid (<1 ps) intramolecular vibrational redistribution on the S(1) potential surface.

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