Probing charge-transfer processes in helium nanodroplets by optically selected mass spectrometry (OSMS): charge steering by long-range interactions

Electron impact ionization of a helium atom in a helium nanodroplet is followed by rapid charge migration, which can ultimately result in the localization of the charge on an atomic or molecular solute. This process is studied here for the cases of hydrogen cyanide, acetylene, and cyanoacetylene in helium, using a new experimental method we call optically selected mass spectrometry (OSMS). The method combines infrared laser spectroscopy with mass spectrometry to separate the contributions to the overall droplet beam mass spectrum from the various species present under a given set of conditions. This is done by vibrationally exciting a specific species that exists in a subset of the droplets (for example, the droplets containing a single HCN molecule). The resulting helium evaporation leads to a concomitant reduction in the ionization cross sections for these droplets. This method is used to study the charge migration in helium and reveals that the probability of charge transfer to a solvated molecule does not approach unity for small droplets and depends on the identity of the solvated molecule. The experimental results are explained quantitatively by considering the effect of the electrostatic potential (between the charge and the embedded molecule) on the trajectory of the migrating charge.     

The time scale for electronic reorganization upon sudden ionization of the water and water-methanol hydrogen bonded dimers and of the weakly bound NO dimer

When the valence molecular orbital is localized sudden ionization can cause the nascent hole to move rapidly even before any relaxation of the geometry occurs. Hydrogen bonded clusters offer suitable test systems where the hole is initially localized on one moiety. Computational studies are reported for the water dimer and water-methanol bimer. The local ionization potential of water is different in the methanol-water and water-methanol conformers and this difference is very clearly reflected in the dynamics of charge migration. For the NO dimer the results are that its structure is symmetric so that the two NO molecules are equivalent and do not exhibit the required localization. The role of symmetry is also evident in the charge propagation for holes created in different orbitals. Localization of the initial hole distribution even if absent in the bare molecule can still be induced by the intense electric field of a sudden photoionization. This effect is computationally studied for the NO dimer in the presence of a static electric field.     

Charge transfer driven by electron correlation: a non-Dyson propagator approach

A hole charge created in a molecular system, for instance, by ionization, can migrate through the system solely driven by electron correlation. This charge transfer due to electron correlation is referred to as charge migration. We introduce in this work a new ab initio method analyzing charge migration due to electron correlation in molecules. This method, a third-order "non-Dyson" propagator approach, aims in the long run, in particular, at the calculation of charge migration in relatively large molecules such as oligopeptides. First results of the new non-Dyson method are compared with a previously used propagator approach.     

Influence of solvent on the energetics of hole transfer in DNA

We have investigated the contribution of molecular environment to the exchange reactions in the DNA molecule taking into account different geometries of the reaction centers in oxidized and reduced states. We have observed the influence of the ionization potential of the donor and the acceptor on the free energy of the hole transfer reaction in the solvated DNA molecule: A decrease of the free energy occurs if IPA > or = IPD and an increase if IPA < or = IPD. The corresponding decrease of the potential barrier by 0.244 eV for hole migration from (G-C) to (A-T) and increase for migration from (G-C) to (G-C)n in solvent have been determined. The prevalence of oxidation of the redox states in the molecule center in comparison to the molecule sides due to the nonuniform charge distribution along the phosphate backbone was found to be stronger for the non-neutralized backbone than for the neutralized case. The influence of the single counterion on the electrostatic interactions within the solute DNA molecule has been found to be smoothly spread over a long distance approximately 7-8 base pairs. Therefore, each counterion contributes to the oxidation potential of the 7-8 nearest nucleosides and any irregularity due to phosphate neutralization would not significantly modify the potential profile for the hole migration through the DNA molecule.     

Control of local ionization and charge transfer in the bifunctional molecule 2-phenylethyl-N,N-dimethylamine using Rydberg fingerprint spectroscopy

Local photoionization pathways and charge-transfer dynamics of 2-phenylethyl-N,N-dimethylamine (PENNA) are explored using the recently developed Rydberg fingerprint spectroscopy. PENNA, a molecule that derives its biological significance from its relation to neurotransmitters, has two ionization centers that are separated by an ethyl group. We ionize the molecule in various multiphoton ionization processes using different laser wavelengths. The Rydberg fingerprint spectrum reveals the local nature of the ionization process and identifies the center of charge. We discovered that the laser wavelength provides substantial control over the activation of the individual ionization centers. The resonant (2+1) ionization with 400-nm radiation is dominated by the ejection of an electron from the amine moiety. In contrast, the resonant (1+1) ionization with 266-nm radiation leads predominantly to an ion with the charge in the phenyl group. The clean separation of the two ionization processes allows the exploration of ultrafast charge-transfer dynamics ensuing from a specific starting state characterized by a charged phenyl moiety. The width of the corresponding spectral features suggests that the charge transfer proceeds on a femtosecond time scale, suggesting a strong coupling between the two lowest-energy electronic surfaces of the PENNA cation.     

Photoinduced charge transfer processes along triarylamine redox cascades

In this paper, we describe the synthesis and photophysical properties of a series of acridine-triarylamine redox cascades. These cascades were designed in order to promote photoinduced hole transfer from an acridine fluorophore into an adjacent triarylamine. The excited dipolar state then injects a hole into the triarylamine redox cascade. Subsequently, the hole migrates along the redox gradient which was tuned by the substituents attached to the triarylamine redox centers. The rate of hole migration was determined by fluorescence lifetime measurements and is in the ns regime and depends strongly on the solvent polarity. The photophysical processes were also investigated by femtosecond broadband pump-probe spectroscopy. Our studies reveal different dynamic processes in the cascades depending on the solvent polarity, e.g., direct charge separation after photoexcitation vs a two step hole transfer mechanism.     

Rapid radical formation by DNA charge transport through sequences lacking intervening guanines

Using the flash-quench technique to probe DNA charge transport in assemblies containing a tethered ruthenium intercalator, the kinetics and yield of methylindole radical formation as a function of DNA sequence were studied by laser spectroscopy and biochemical methods. In these assemblies, the methylindole moiety serves as an artificial base of low oxidation potential. Hole injection and subsequent formation of the methylindole radical cation were observed at a distance of over 30 A at rates >/=107 s-1 in assemblies containing no guanine bases intervening the ruthenium intercalator and GMG oxidation site. Radical yield was, however, strikingly sensitive to an intervening base mismatch; no significant methylindole radical formation was evident with an intervening AA mismatch. Also critical is the sequence at the injection site; this sequence determines initial hole localization and hence the probability of hole propagation. With guanine rather than inosine near the site of hole injection, decreased yields of radicals and long-range oxidative damage are observed. The presence of the low-energy guanine site in this case serves to localize the hole and therefore diminish charge transport through the base pair stack.     

Peptides-assisted charge transfers in proteins: relay mechanism and its controllability

This feature article addresses several novel aspects regarding the peptide-mediated charge migrations, including: i) radical exchanges with tunable radical types (σ-radical versus π-radical) and electron-transfer (ET)-channel-tunable cooperative proton-coupled ET (PCET) mechanism, including hydrogen-atom transfer (HAT), single ET-channel PCET, double ET channel PCET, and channel-type-tunable (σ-channel versus π-channel) PCET; ii) hole hopping migration between the active groups in the side-chains and its controllability; iii) hole hopping through stepping-stones via a solvated “hole” form; and iv) electron hopping through positively charged groups as stepping-stones via a solvated electron state. In particular, the controllability of the ET channels (pathways and types) and solvated-“hole”/“electron”-based relay mechanisms are mainly mentioned. Clearly, this is an important addition to the well-documented mechanisms for charge migration in proteins. In view of the complexity of protein charge migration, further exploration on details of the stepping-stone-based relay mechanisms, by considering the properties and structures of the redox active centers, their intercalators, and the real surroundings, is still needed.     

Ultrafast charge separation driven by differential particle and hole mobilities

The process of a local excitation evolving into an intramolecular charge-separated state is followed and compared for several systems by directly simulating the time propagation of the electronic wavefunction. The wavefunction and Hamiltonian are handled using the extended second-order algebraic diagrammatic construction (ADC(2)-x), which explicitly accounts for electron correlation in the dynamic many-particle state. The details of the charge separation can be manipulated according to the chemical composition of the system; atoms which dope the conjugated system with either particles or holes are shown to effect whether the particle or hole is more mobile. Initially, the charges oscillate between the ends of linear molecules (with different rates), separating periodically, but, at long times, both charges tend to spread over the whole molecule. Charge separation is also shown to occur for asymmetric systems, where it may eventually be experimentally feasible to excite a localized resonance (nonstationary state) on one end of the molecule preferentially and follow the ensuing dynamics.     

Characterization of the molecular parameters determining charge transport in anthradithiophene

The molecular parameters that govern charge transport in anthradithiophene (ADT) are studied by a joint experimental/theoretical approach involving high-resolution gas-phase photoelectron spectroscopy and quantum-mechanical methods. The hole reorganization energy of ADT has been determined by an analysis of the vibrational structure of the lowest ionization band in the gas-phase photoelectron spectrum as well as by density-functional theory calculations. In addition, various dimers and clusters of ADT molecules have been considered in order to understand the effect of molecular packing on the hole and electron intermolecular transfer integrals. The results indicate that the intrinsic electronic structure, the relevant intramolecular vibrational modes, and the intermolecular interactions in ADT are very similar to those in pentacene.     

Theoretical study of the charge carrier mobilities of the molecular materials tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) and 2,5-bis(1,3-dithiolan-2-ylidene)-1,3,4,6-tetrathiapentalene (BDH-TTP)

Tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) is a kind of fused ring aromatic compound containing four sulfur atoms in one molecule, which is well known as a charge transport material. In order to calculate the charge mobility of this semiconductor, Marcus electron transfer theory and the embedded model, which can give small intramolecular reorganization energies, were employed. The calculated results were in good agreement with the experimental values, so the above computing model is appropriate to assess the electrical property of TTF. On this basis, we predicted the charge mobility of 2,5-bis(1,3-dithiolan-2-ylidene)-1,3,4,6-tetrathiapentalene (BDH-TTP) crystals, for which the molecular structure is similar to TTF. The calculated results indicated that BDH-TTP is a p-type material, which has a better performance than TTF in hole transfer due to larger hole coupling and the smaller hole injection barrier. In addition, the direct coupling (DC) and the site energy correction (SEC) methods were used to calculate the charge transfer integrals. Although the results were slightly different, the qualitative trends were the same. Furthermore we took into account the anisotropic transfer properties of TTF and BDH-TTF, since obviously the mobilities along one dimension are larger than those along three dimensions. Finally, natural bond orbital analysis was used to study the interactions in all of the dimers.     

The Fukui potential and the capacity of charge and the global hardness of atoms

In the course of a reaction it is the shape of the Fukui potential that guides a distant reagent toward the site where an electrophile/nucleophile is willing to accept/donate charge. In this paper we explore the mathematical characteristics of the Fukui potential and demonstrate its relationship to the hardness and the ability of an atom in a molecule to change its charge. The Fukui potential not only determines the active site for electron transfer, but it also approximates the distribution of hardness of a molecule: it is the Coulomb contribution to the frontier local hardness. The Fukui potential at the position of the nuclei is equal to the variation of the chemical potential with the nuclear charge and therefore measures the sensitivity of the system to changes in atom type. In the specific case of atoms and slightly charged ions, the Fukui potential at the nucleus measures the hardness. The strong correlation between the hardness and the Fukui potential at the nucleus suggests that the Fukui potential at the nucleus is an alternative definition for the chemical hardness.     

Manipulation of charge states of biopolymer ions by atmospheric pressure ion/molecule reactions implemented in an extractive electrospray ionization source

A home-made extractive electrospray ionization source is coupled to an linear quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer to investigate ion/molecule reactions of biopolymers at ambient pressure. Multiply charged biopolymers such as peptides and proteins generated in an electrospray are easily reduced to a low charge state by the atmospheric pressure ion/molecule reactions occurring between the multiply charged ions and a strong basic reagent sprayed in neutral form into the electrospray plume. The charge state of the biopolymer ions can be manipulated by controlling the amount of the basic reagent. The production of biopolymer ions with low charge states results in a substantial improvement of sensitivity and reduced spectral congestion in ESI-MS. This is of importance for biopolymer mixture analysis and could have promising applications in proteomics.     

Charge transfer in DNA: hole charge is confined to a single base pair due to solvation effects

We include solvation effects in tight-binding Hamiltonians for hole states in DNA. The corresponding linear-response parameters are derived from accurate estimates of solvation energy calculated for several hole charge distributions in DNA stacks. Two models are considered: (A) the correction to a diagonal Hamiltonian matrix element depends only on the charge localized on the corresponding site and (B) in addition to this term, the reaction field due to adjacent base pairs is accounted for. We show that both schemes give very similar results. The effects of the polar medium on the hole distribution in DNA are studied. We conclude that the effects of polar surroundings essentially suppress charge delocalization in DNA, and hole states in (GC)(n) sequences are localized on individual guanines.     

Effects of Spatial Constraints and Brønsted Acid Site Locations on para‐Terphenyl Ionization and Charge Transfer in Zeolites

The locations of Brønsted acid sites (BAS) in the channels of medium‐pore zeolites have a significant effect on the spontaneous ionization of para‐terphenyl (PP₃) insofar as spatial constraints determine the stability of transition states and charge‐transfer complexes relevant to charge separation. The ionization rates and ionization yield values demonstrate that a strong synergy exists between the H⁺ polarization energy and spatial constraints imposed by the channel topology. Spectroscopic and modeling results show that PP₃ incorporation, charge separation, charge transfer and charge recombination differ dramatically among zeolites with respect to channel structure (H‐FER, H‐MFI, H‐MOR) and BAS density in the channel. Compartmentalization of ejected electrons away from the initial site of ionization decreases dramatically the propensity for charge recombination. The main mode of PP₃^.+ decay is hole transfer to form AlO₄H^.+ ??? PP₃ charge‐transfer complexes characterized by intense absorption in the visible range. According to the nonadiabatic electron‐transfer theory, the small reorganization energy in constrained channels explains the slow hole‐transfer rate.     

Optoelectronic and charge transport properties of the complex of carbon nanotube with perylene bisimide

In the present study we carried out an investigation on the structure and properties of the complex formed by adsorbing perylene bisimide (PBI) on the surface of (6,6) carbon nanotube (CNT) by employing different dispersion-corrected density functionals (B97D, B3LYP-GD3, and ωB97XD), which showed the complex as stable. The contribution of various components of interaction energy follows the order: dispersion > electrostatic > induction. The lower ionization energy of CNT and the higher electron affinity of PBI revealed that they constitute a donor-acceptor system. Electron density distribution of the frontier molecular orbitals of complex confirmed the photoinduced charge transfer. The charge transport properties of the complex indicated higher hole mobility than electron mobility making it suitable to be used as p-type transistor. The absorption spectrum of the complex showed absorption in the near ultraviolet-visible-near infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum suggesting it useful for solar cells.