Observation of sub-surface phenyl rings in polystyrene with vibrationally resonant sum-frequency generation

The use of vibrationally resonant sum-frequency generation (VR-SFG) spectroscopy to investigate the structure of surfaces and interfaces generally relies on the assumption that only the surface/interface is probed and that the vibrational mode assignments are known and correct. To make vibrational mode assignments, two fundamental aspects of the technique must be dealt with. First, not all vibrational modes observed in linear spectroscopic techniques, such as IR and Raman, are necessarily present in the VR-SFG spectrum. Second, while it is generally assumed that VR-SFG only probes the surface, this technique in actuality is sensitive to molecules in any environment with broken symmetry. Previously published assignments for the aromatic CH stretching modes of polystyrene surfaces are contradictory, and one purpose of this work is to revisit those assignments. In addition to thin films of polystyrene, we have collected VR-SFG spectra of dimethylphenyl silane, polystyrene covered with a layer of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), and plasma-treated polystyrene to aid our mode assignments. Density functional theory calculations were also performed on styrene oligomers. Based on these experimental and theoretical results, we have determined that not all the expected vibrational modes are observed in the VR-SFG spectrum of polystyrene. We have also found that one particular mode, the ν₂ symmetric stretch, accounts for two of the observed peaks, one from the exposed surface and a second feature from a subsurface layer within the polymer thin film. These two features appear at separate frequencies (11 cm⁻¹ separation) because this mode is very sensitive to the local density, which is higher in the bulk than at the surface. With these experimentally validated mode assignments, VR-SFG spectra in the aromatic CH stretching region can be interpreted more reliably. More importantly, these results demonstrate that great care must be taken in assigning VR-SFG spectra. These results also show that VR-SFG can be used to interrogate more than just free surfaces and buried interfaces; any area of broken symmetry is probed with this technique.     

Ordering effects of cholesterol on sphingomyelin monolayers investigated by high-resolution broadband sum-frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy

After adding cholesterol, the sphingosine backbones (red) of the three nature SMs become more ordered, and the N-linked acyl chain (blue) remains unaltered.     

Vibrational vave-packet dynamics in CV670 investigated by broadband femtosecond TR-CARS spectroscopy

Broadband femtosecond time-resolved coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering ((TR-CARS)) is utilized to investigate the wave-packet dynamics of Cresyl Violet (CV670) dye molecules in ethanol solvent at room temperature. An interesting behavior of wave-packet dynamics phenomena is observed and discussed for the first time, and several unknown Raman vibrational modes with frequency differences of 32 cm⁻¹, 38 cm⁻¹, 45 cm⁻¹, 50 cm⁻¹, 55 cm⁻¹, 65 cm⁻¹, 80 cm⁻¹, 95 cm⁻¹ and 101 cm⁻¹ are excited and obtained at the same time. This work makes possible high efficiency in the structure investigation as well as dynamics of intra-molecular processes by broadband femtosecond (TR-CARS) spectroscopy with fast Fourier transformation (FFT) analysis means.     

Cross-Propagation Sum-Frequency Generation Vibrational Spectroscopy

Here we report the theory formulation and the experiment realization of sum-frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy (SFG-VS) in the cross-propagation (XP) geometry or configuration. In the XP-SFG-VS, the visible and the infrared (IR) beams in the SFG experiment are delivered to the same location on the surface from visible and IR incident planes perpendicular to each other, avoiding the requirement to have windows or optics to be transparent to both the visible and IR frequencies. Therefore, the XP geometry is applicable to study surfaces in the enclosed vacuum or high pressure chambers with far infrared (FIR) frequencies that can directly access the metal oxide and other lower frequency surface modes, with much broader selection of visible and IR transparent window materials. The potential applications include surface science, material science, fundamental catalytic sciences, as well as low temperature molecular sciences, etc.     

Molecular surface structure of comb-like polyoxyethylene with alkyl sulfonyl side-chains studied by sum-frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy

The orientation of alkyl sulfonyl side-chains on a series of polyoxyethylenes, CH₃–nSE (n?=?6, 8 or 10), and the effect of annealing and rubbing on the molecular orientation of the alkyl side-chains at the substrate surface, were investigated using sum-frequency generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy. Based on the SFG spectra and their quantitative interpretation, we deduced that the alkyl chains of CH₃–10SE are almost vertically oriented at the surface and that the terminal methyl groups of the alkyl chains are tilted from the surface normal as much as θ ≈ 40?±?5°, with a broad distribution of tilt angles. We also found that rubbing treatment induced the anisotropic orientation of the alkyl side-chains perpendicular to the rubbing direction, but their orientation was unchanged by annealing.     

Femtosecond time-resolved electronic sum-frequency generation spectroscopy: a new method to investigate ultrafast dynamics at liquid interfaces

We developed a new surface-selective time-resolved nonlinear spectroscopy, femtosecond time-resolved electronic sum-frequency generation (TR-ESFG) spectroscopy, to investigate ultrafast dynamics of molecules at liquid interfaces. Its advantage over conventional time-resolved second harmonic generation spectroscopy is that it can provide spectral information, which is realized by the multiplex detection of the transient electronic sum-frequency signal using a broadband white light continuum and a multichannel detector. We studied the photochemical dynamics of rhodamine 800 (R800) at the air/water interface with the TR-ESFG spectroscopy, and discussed the ultrafast dynamics of the molecule as thoroughly as we do for the bulk molecules with conventional transient absorption spectroscopy. We found that the relaxation dynamics of photoexcited R800 at the air/water interface exhibited three characteristic time constants of 0.32 ps, 6.4 ps, and 0.85 ns. The 0.32 ps time constant was ascribed to the lifetime of dimeric R800 in the lowest excited singlet (S(1)) state (S(1) dimer) that is directly generated by photoexcitation. The S(1) dimer dissociates to a monomer in the S(1) state (S(1) monomer) and a monomer in the ground state with this time constant. This lifetime of the S(1) dimer was ten times shorter than the corresponding lifetime in a bulk aqueous solution. The 6.4 ps and 0.85 ns components were ascribed to the decay of the S(1) monomer (as well as the recovery of the dimer in the ground state). For the 6.4 ps time constant, there is no corresponding component in the dynamics in bulk water, and it is ascribed to an interface-specific deactivation process. The 0.85 ns time constant was ascribed to the intrinsic lifetime of the S(1) monomer at the air/water interface, which is almost the same as the lifetime in bulk water. The present study clearly shows the feasibility and high potential of the TR-ESFG spectroscopy to investigate ultrafast dynamics at the interface.     

Probing ligand-protein recognition with sum-frequency generation spectroscopy: the avidin-biocytin case.

Infrared/visible sum-frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy is used to study the recognition of a protein (avidin) by a derived vitamin (biocytin) adsorbed on a calcium fluoride substrate. The specificity of the process is tested by replacing avidin with bovine serum albumin or presaturated avidin. The SFG spectroscopy shows drastic modifications in the CH and NH spectral ranges only upon exposure of the biocytin film to avidin. The comparison of the SFG data with Fourier transform infrared reflection absorption spectra (FT-IRRAS) in the same spectral ranges illustrates the advantages of nonlinear spectroscopy for studying and detecting recognition between biomolecules.     

Theory of time-resolved sum-frequency generation and its applications to vibrational dynamics of water

A molecular theory of time-resolved sum-frequency generation (SFG) has been developed. The theoretical framework is constructed using the coupled-oscillator model in the adiabatic approximation. This theory can treat not only the vibrational spectroscopy but also vibrational dynamics. An application of this theory is also provided for estimation of the time constants of the intermolecular vibrational energy transfer between water molecules. This approach can be used for molecular analysis of the experimental results of Shen at al. on the SFG studies of vibrational dynamics of water.     

Ultrafast dynamics of myoglobin probed by time-resolved resonance Raman spectroscopy

Recent experimental work carried out in this laboratory on the ultrafast dynamics of myoglobin (Mb) is summarized with a stress on structural and vibrational energy relaxation. Studies on the structural relaxation of Mb following CO photolysis revealed that the structural change of heme itself, caused by CO photodissociation, is completed within the instrumental response time of the time-resolved resonance Raman apparatus used (approximately 2 ps). In contrast, changes in the intensity and frequency of the iron-histidine (Fe-His) stretching mode upon dissociation of the trans ligand were found to occur in the picosecond regime. The Fe-His band is absent for the CO-bound form, and its appearance upon photodissociation was not instantaneous, in contrast with that observed in the vibrational modes of heme, suggesting appreciable time evolution of the Fe displacement from the heme plane. The band position of the Fe-His stretching mode changed with a time constant of about 100 ps, indicating that tertiary structural changes of the protein occurred in a 100-ps range. Temporal changes of the anti-Stokes Raman intensity of the v4 and v7 bands demonstrated immediate generation of vibrationally excited heme upon the photodissociation and decay of the excited populations, whose time constants were 1.1 +/- 0.6 and 1.9 +/- 0.6 ps, respectively. In addition, the development of the time-resolved resonance Raman apparatus and prospects in this research field are described.     

Molecular interaction of polyimide films probed by using soft-pulse dynamic compression ATR time-resolved infrared and double Fourier-transform based 2D-IR spectroscopy

An improved time-resolved step-scan Fourier transform rheo-optical system, based on the soft-pulse dynamic compression attenuated total reflection (ATR) approach, has been introduced to analyze inter-molecular interactions of poly(p-phenylene bi-phenyltetracarboximide) (BPDA–PDA) and poly(N,N-diphenyl ether bi-phenyltetracarboximide) (BPDA–ODA) films. In order to extract the full range of frequency distributions obtained from soft-pulse dynamic compression time response (relaxation) spectra, the second-Fourier transformation was applied along the relaxation time axis in addition to the interferogram axis. In the case of the BPDA–PDA, distinct periodic higher overtone bands are observed especially at C=O stretching and C=C tangential stretching vibration bands in the FFT relaxation time contour map spectra. For the BPDA–ODA, intensities of higher overtone bands are relatively weak. We have further performed 2D-IR correlation analysis at given Fourier frequencies, which includes molecular interaction information. The results suggest that the existence of molecular interaction between C=O stretching and C=C tangential stretching vibration bands.     

时间分辨发射光谱的应用研究进展

时间分辨荧光技术是研究超分子组装微环境变化的主要手段之一。荧光体与蛋白质、内膜及胶束等相互作用引起最大荧光强度和量子效率急剧变化反映了激发态反应情况,激发态过程通常用时间分辨发射光谱(TRES)测定。国内在这一领域的研究虽有成果,但与国外相比仍有一定差距。本文对时间分辨荧光光谱的应用研究进展进行了综述,阐述了其历史、原理、检测方法及近几年国内外的应用研究进展情况。     

Surfaces of alcohol-water mixtures studied by sum-frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy

Sum-frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy was used to investigate the surface molecular structure of binary mixtures of water and alcohol (methanol, ethanol, and propanol) at the air/liquid interface. In this study, it is shown that the sum-frequency signal from the alcohol molecules in the CH-stretch vibration region is always larger for mixtures than that from pure alcohol. For example, the sum-frequency signal from a propanol mixture surface at a 0.1 bulk mole fraction was approximately 3 times larger than that from a pure propanol surface. However, the ratio between the sum-frequency signals taken at different polarization combinations was found to be constant within experimental errors as the bulk alcohol concentration was changed. This suggested that the orientation of surface alcohol molecules does not vary appreciably with the change of concentration and that the origin of the signal enhancement is mainly due to the increase in the surface number density of alcohol molecules contributing to the sum-frequency signal for the alcohol/water mixture as compared to the pure alcohol surface.     

Matrix merging arrangements for the study protein dynamics by time-resolved step-scan Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and multivariate curve resolution

In this paper, we propose the construction of merging arrangements for combining the information from various runs as a powerful approach to improve the resolution. The bacteriorhodopsin (bR) photocycle has been chosen in this study as an example dealing with the protein dynamics monitored by means of time-resolved step-scan FT-IR spectroscopy. The possibilities of matrix merging are evaluated and results are compared with those from the analysis of individual and augmented matrices. As a conclusion, this strategy provides excellent results for the analysis of this type of time-resolved FT-IR data.     

Nonresonant ionization of oxygen molecules by femtosecond pulses: plasma dynamics studied by time-resolved terahertz spectroscopy

We show that optical pump-terahertz probe spectroscopy is a direct experimental tool for exploring laser-induced ionization and plasma formation in gases. Plasma was produced in gaseous oxygen by focused amplified femtosecond pulses. The ionization mechanisms at 400- and 800-nm excitation wavelengths differ significantly being primarily of a multiphoton character in the former case and a strong-field process in the latter case. The generation of the plasma in the focal volume of the laser and its expansion on subnanosecond time scale is directly monitored through its density-dependent susceptibility. A Drude model used to evaluate the plasma densities and electron-scattering rates successfully captures the observations for a wide range of pump intensities. In addition, rotational fingerprints of molecular and ionic species were also observed in the spectra.     

Mixture models for two-dimensional baseline correction,applied to artifact elimination in time-resolved spectroscopy

Baseline correction and artifact removal are important pre-processing steps in analytical chemistry. We propose a correction algorithm using a mixture model in combination with penalized regression. The model is an extension of a method recently introduced for baseline estimation in the case of one-dimensional data. The data are modeled as a smooth surface using tensor product P-splines. The weights of the P-splines regression model are computed from a mixture model where a datapoint is either allocated to the noise around the baseline, or to the artifact component. The method is broadly applicable for anisotropic smoothing of two-way data such as two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and two-dimensional chromatography data. We focus here on the application of the approach in femtosecond time-resolved spectroscopy, to eliminate strong artifact signals from the solvent.     

Anharmonic vibrational spectroscopy calculations with electronic structure potentials: comparison of MP2 and DFT for organic molecules

Density functional theory (DFT) technique is the most commonly used approach when it comes to computation of vibrational spectra of molecular species. In this study, we compare anharmonic spectra of several organic molecules such as allene, propyne, glycine, and imidazole, computed from ab initio MP2 potentials and DFT potentials based on commonly used BLYP and B3LYP functionals. Anharmonic spectra are obtained using the direct vibrational self-consistent field (VSCF) method and its correlation-corrected extension (CC-VSCF). The results of computations are compared with available experimental data. It is shown that the most accurate vibrational frequencies are obtained with the MP2 method, followed by the DFT/B3LYP method, while DFT/BLYP results are often unsatisfactory. Contribution to the Mark S. Gordon 65th Birthday Festschrift Issue.     

A new tunable 1 ps laser source applied to time-resolved absorption spectroscopy of dye solutions

An original laser technique producing high power, tunable, 1 ps pulses starting from a single standard nanosecond laser is described. Time resolved absorption spectra of dye solutions are shown as an example of application.     

Vibrational spectroscopy in the development of surface hydrophilic elastomer latex (SHEL)

An illustrative example is given to show how various vibrational spectroscopy techniques coupled with two-dimensional (2D) correlation analysis can be effectively utilized in the development of a novel and functional material. Surface-hydrophilic elastomer latex (SHEL) is a material exhibiting rather unusual permanently water-wettable surface feature despite having a soft and rubbery bulk property, which can be successfully analyzed with vibrational spectroscopy. 2D photoacoustic (PAS) IR spectra of a SHEL film indicate the localized surface segregation of long-chain ethoxylate moiety of the oligomeric surfactant used in the preparation of this material. The accumulation of the hydrophilic long-chain ethoxylate produces the high energy polar surface over the hydrophobic bulk phase of SBR copolymer. The persistence of very low water contact angle, even after repeated washing of a SHEL film with an excess amount of water, indicates permanent covalent attachment of long-chain ethoxylate group to the SBR copolymer. 2D Raman spectra generated from the process monitoring of the emulsion copolymerization of SHEL reveal the mechanism of the covalent attachment of long-chain ethoxylate. The reaction involves a separate step of oleyl moiety of the block surfactant reacting with 1,3-butadiene prior to the onset of copolymerization to produce the SBR latex product.     

New insights on structural dynamics of electrochemical interface by time-resolved surface X-ray diffraction

Many time-resolved measurements of electrochemical interface have been developed in conformity with the time scale of various transition. X-ray diffraction using synchrotron radiation is a powerful tool for structural determination of electrical double layer in real time. This short review describes structural dynamics of interfacial ions during the faraday and non-faraday processes in the time scale from microsecond to second.