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The photoionization of several nitrogen-containing reactive intermediates relevant in combustion processes was investigated in the gas phase employing VUV synchrotron radiation. The intermediates were either freshly prepared and stored under cryogenic temperatures during the experiment or generated in situ by vacuum flash pyrolysis of suitable precursor molecules. The iPEPICO (imaging photoelectron photoion coincidence) setups of the VUV beamlines at the Swiss Light Source and Synchrotron SOLEIL were then used to record mass-selected threshold photoelectron (TPE) spectra. TPE spectra reveal the ionization energy and vibrational structure in the cationic states can often be resolved, which enables to distinguish different isomers. Accurate ionization energies for the radicals carbonyl amidogen, pyrrolyl, and 3-picolyl, and for the closed shell molecules isocyanic acid and cyanovinylacetylene were obtained. The analysis of the dissociative photoionization of the pyrolysis precursors enables in some cases to retrieve thermochemical data. Beyond, the absolute photoionization cross section of the cyclic carbene cyclopropenylidene was determined, NEXAFS and normal Auger spectra of isocyanic acid were recorded and analyzed at the O1s, N1s, and C1s edges, and the dissociative photoionization and pyrolysis of 1,4-di-tert-butyl-1,4-azaborinine was studied.
The scope of computational chemistry can be broadened by developing new methods and more efficient algorithms. However, the evaluation of the applicability of the methods for the different fields of chemistry is equally important. In this thesis systems with an unusual and complex electronic structure, such as excitonic states in organic semiconductors, a boron-containing bipolaron and the excited states of pyracene were studied and the applicability of the toolkit of computational chemistry was investigated. Concerning the organic semiconductors the focus was laid on organic solar cells, which are one of the most promising technologies with regard to satisfying the world's need for cheap and environmentally sustainable energy. This is due to the low production and material costs and the possibility of using flexible and transparent devices. However, their efficiency does still not live up to the expectations. Especially the exciton diffusion lengths seem to be significantly too short. In order to arrive at improved modules, a fundamental understanding of the elementary processes occurring in the cell on the molecular and supramolecular level is needed. Computational chemistry can provide insight by separating the different effects and providing models for predictions and prescreenings. In this thesis, the focus was laid on the description of excitonic states in merocyanines and perylene-based dyes taking the influence of the environment into account.
At first, the photochemical isomerization between two configurations of 6-nitro BIPS observed experimentally was studied by first benchmarking several functionals against SCS-ADC(2) in the gas phase and subsequently calculating the excited-state potential energy surface. The geometries obtained from a relaxed scan in the ground state as well as from a scan in the excited state were used. The environment was included using different polarizable continuum models. It was shown that the choice of the model and especially the question of the state specificity of the approach is of vital importance. Using the results of the calculations, a two-dimensional potential energy surface could be constructed that could be used to explain the experimental findings. Furthermore, the importance of the excited-state isomerization as a potential deactivation channel in the exciton transport was pointed out.
Then the assessment of the suitability of different merocyanines for optoelectronic applications with quantum-chemical methods was discussed. At first, the effect of the environment on the geometry, especially on the bond length alternation pattern, was investigated. It was shown that the environment changes the character of the ground-state wave function of several merocyanines qualitatively, which means that the results of gas-phase calculations are meaningless - at least when a comparison with solution or device data is desired. It was demonstrated that using a polarizable continuum model with an effective epsilon, a qualitative agreement between the calculated geometry and the geometry in the crystal structure can be obtained. Therefore, by comparing the bond length alternation in solution and in the crystal, a rough estimate of the effect of the crystal environment can be made.
It was further shown that the connection between the HOMO energy and the open-circuit voltage is not as simple as it is often implied in the literature. It was discussed that it is not clear whether the HOMO of a single molecule or a $\pi$-stack containing several monomers should be used and if the environmental charges of the bulk phase or the interface should be included. Investigating the dependence of the HOMO energy on the stack size yielded no definitive trend. Furthermore, it was discussed that the effect due the optimization of the modules (solvent, bulk heterojunction) during the production masks any potential correlation between the HOMO energy and measured open-circuit values. Therefore, a trend can only be expected for unoptimized bilayer cells. It was concluded that ultimately, the importance of the HOMO energy should not be overestimated.
The correlation between the exciton reorganization energy and the so-called cyanine limit, which is predicted by a simple two-state model, was also discussed. By referring to the results of VB calculations, it was discussed that the correlation indeed exists and is non-negligible, although the effect is not as strong as one might have expected. In this context, a potential application of a VB/MM approach was covered briefly. The importance of the molecular reorganization energy and the device morphology was also discussed.
It was concluded that the optimization of merocyanines for organic optoelectronic devices is inherently a multiparameter problem and one cannot expect to find one particular parameter, which solely controls the efficiency.
The perylene-based dyes were studied with a focus on the description of a potential trapping mechanism involving an intermolecular motion in a dimer. The aim was to find methods which can be applied to larger model systems than a dimer and take the effect of the environment into account. As a test coordinate the longitudinal shift of two monomers against each other was used. At first, it was demonstrated how the character of an excited state in a dimer can be defined and how it can be extracted from a standard quantum-chemical calculation. Then several functionals were benchmarked and their applicability or failure was rationalized using the character analysis. Two recipes could be proposed, which were applied to a constraint optimization (only intermolecular degrees of freedom) in the excited states of the PBI dimer and to the description of the potential energy surfaces of ground and excited states along a longitudinal displacement in the perylene tetramer, respectively.
It was further demonstrated that the semi-empirical OMx methods fail to give an accurate description of the excited-state potential energy surfaces as well as the ground-state surface along the test coordinate. This failure could be attributed to an underestimation of overlap-dependent terms. Consequently, it could be shown that the methods are applicable to large intermolecular distances, where the overlap is negligible. The results of DFT calculations with differently composed basis sets suggested that adding an additional single p-function for each atom should significantly improve the performance.
QM/MM methods are ideally suited to take the effect of the environment on a a dimer model system into account. However, it was shown that standard force fields also give an incorrect description of the interaction between the monomers along the intermolecular coordinate. This failure was attributed to the isotropic atom-atom interaction in the repulsion term of the Lennard-Jones potential. This was corroborated using two simple proof-of-principle anisotropy models. Therefore, a novel force field called OPLS-AA_O was presented that is based on OPLS-AA, but uses an anisotropic model for the repulsion. The model involves the overlap integral between the molecular densities, which are modeled as a sum of atom-centered p-type Gaussian functions. It was shown that using this force field an excellent agreement with the DFT results can be obtained when the correct parameters are used. These parameters, however, are not very generalizable, which was attributed to the simplicity of the model in its current state (using the same exponential parameter for all atoms). As a short excursion, the applicability of an MO-based overlap model was discussed.
It was demonstrated that the repulsion term based on the density overlap can be used to correct the failure of the OMx methods for the ground states. This is in accord with the assumption that an underestimation of the overlap terms is responsible for the failure.
It was shown that OPLS-AA_O also gives an excellent description of the longitudinal shift in a PBI tetramer. Using the tetramer as a test system and applying the recipe obtained in the TDDFT benchmark for the QM-part and OPLS-AA_O for the MM-part in conjunction with an electrostatic embedding scheme, a QM/MM description of the excited states of the PBI dimer including the effect of the environment could be obtained.
In the last chapter the theoretical description of the Bis(borolyl)thiophene dianion and the excited states of pyracene were discussed. The electronic structure of the Bis(borolyl)thiophene dianion - a negative bipolaron - was elucidated using DFT and CASPT2 methods. Furthermore, an estimation of the extent of triplet admixture to the ground state due to spin-orbit coupling was given.
In the second project the S1 and S2 states of pyracene were computed using SCS-CC2 and SCS-ADC(2) and an estimation for the balance between aromaticity and ring strain was given. This also involved computing the vibrational frequencies in the excited states.
In both studies the results of the computations were able to rationalize and complete experimental results.
A series of combustion relevant species like radicals, carbenes and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were characterized in the gas phase by vacuum UV synchrotron radiation and their ionization energies (IE) and further spectroscopic details of the respective cations were retrieved from threshold photoelectron spectra. The reactive intermediates were generated by flash vacuum pyrolysis from stable precursor molecules. Furthermore three polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were investigated by threshold photoelectron spectroscopy, too. The experiment was performed at the VUV beamline of the Swiss Light Source in Villigen/Switzerland and the iPEPICO (imaging photoelectron photoion coincidence) setup was applied to correlate ions and electrons from the same ionization event. From the threshold photoelectron spectra and from quantum chemical computations the vibrational structure of the molecule cations and the geometry changes upon ionization were assigned. The ionization energies of the two C4H5 isomers 2-butyn-1-yl and 1-butyn-3-yl were assigned to 7.94±0.02 eV and 7.97±0.02 eV, respectively. The isomerization between the two isomers was computed to have a barrier of 2.20 eV, so a rearrangement between the two radicals cannot be excluded. From the threshold photoelectron spectra of the two constitutional C4H7 isomers 1-methylallyl and 2-methylallyl the ionization energies were assigned to 7.48±0.02 eV and to 7.59±0.02 eV for 1-E-methylallyl and 1-Z-methylallyl, as well as to 7.88±0.01 eV for 2-methylallyl. The two radicals 9-fluorenyl, C13H9, and benzhydryl, C13H11, were observed to ionize at 7.01±0.02 eV and 6.7 eV. The threshold photoelectron spectrum of benzhydryl also incorporated the signal of the diphenylmethyl carbene, C13H10, which has an IE at 6.8 eV. In addition, the head-to-head dimers of 9-fluorenyl and benzhydryl were observed as products in the pyrolysis. C26H18 has an IE at 7.69±0.04 eV and C26H22 has an IE at 8.13±0.04 eV. The three polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon DHP (C14H16) 1-PEN (C18H22) and THCT (C22H16) were investigated in an effusive beam. The ionization energies were determined to IE(DHP)= 7.38±0.02 eV, IE(1-PEN)=7.58±0.05 eV and IE(THCT)=6.40±0.02 eV. Furthermore the thermal decomposition and the dissociative photoionization of diazomeldrum’s acid was investigated. The pyrolysis products yielded beside several other products the two not yet (by photoelectron spectroscopy) characterized molecules E-formylketene, C3O2H2 and 2-diazoethenone, N2C2O. The dissociative photoionization showed the Wolff rearrangement to occur at higher internal energies.
As organic semiconductors gain more importance for application, research into their properties has become necessary. This work investigated the exciton and charge transport properties of organic semiconducting crystals. Based on a hopping approach, protocols have been developed for the calculation of Charge mobilities and singlet exciton diffusion coefficients. The protocols do not require any input from experimental data except for the x-ray crystal structure, since all needed quantities can be taken from high-level quantum chemical calculations. Hence, they allow to predict the transport properties of yet unknown compounds for given packings, which is important for a rational design of new materials. Different thermally activated hopping models based on time-dependent perturbation theory were studied for the charge and exciton transport; i. e. the spectral overlap approach, the Marcus theory, and the Levich-Jortner theory. Their derivations were presented coherently in order to emphasize the different levels of approximations and their respective prerequisites. A short reference was made to the empirical Miller-Abrahams hopping rate. Rate equation approaches to calculate the stationary charge carrier mobilities and exciton diffusion coefficients have been developed, which are based on the master equation. The rate equation approach is faster and more efficient than the frequently used Monte Carlo method and, therefore, provides the possibility to study the anisotropy of the transport parameters and their three-dimensional representation in the crystal. The Marcus theory, originally derived for outer sphere electron transfer in solvents, had already been well established for charge transport in organic solids. It was shown that this theory fits even better for excitons than for charges compared with the experiment. The Levich-Jortner theory strongly overestimates the charge carrier mobilities and the results deviate even stronger from the experiment than those obtained with the Marcus theory. The latter contains larger approximations by treating all vibrational modes classically. The spectral overlap approach in combination with the developed rate equations leads to even quantitatively very good results for exciton diffusion lengths compared to experiment. This approach and the appendant rate equations have also been adapted to charge transport. The Einstein relation, which relates the diffusion coefficient with the mobility, is important for the rate equations, which have been developed here for transport in organic crystals. It has been argued that this relation does not hold in disordered organic materials. This was analyzed within the Framework of the Gaussian disorder model and the Miller-Abrahams hopping rate.
Zur Charakterisierung der Wechselwirkungen zwischen organischen Dispergiermitteln und nanoskaligen Oberflächen stellen Komplexe aus Kohlenstoffnanoröhren und (Bio-)Polymeren aufgrund der großen Oberfläche der Nanoröhren und der kommerziellen Verfügbarkeit fluoreszenzmarkierter DNA-Oligomere unterschiedlicher Länge sowie intrinsisch fluoreszierender Polymere ein vielversprechendes Modellsystem dar. Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Dissertation wurden verschiedene Methoden evaluiert, um die Stabilität derartiger Komplexe zu untersuchen und dadurch Rückschlüsse auf das Adsorptionsverhalten der (Bio-)Polymere zu ziehen. Dabei konnte gezeigt werden, dass das publizierte helikale Adsorptionsmodell der DNA auf Kohlenstoffnanoröhren die Resultate der durchgeführten Experimente nur unzureichend beschreiben kann und stattdessen andere Adsorptionskonformationen in Erwägung gezogen werden müssen.
Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde durch einzelmolekülspektroskopischer bzw. -mikroskopischer Methoden in Kombination mit einer mikrofluischen Zel- le unter Potenzialkontrolle die Elektrochemie von einzelnen einwandigen (6,5)- Kohlenstoffnanoröhren untersucht. Hierfür wurde ein Nahinfrarot-Photolumineszenz- Mikroskop aufgebaut und eine speziell an die experimentellen Vorgaben angepasste elektrochemische Zelle entwickelt, insofern als drei Elektroden (Arbeits-, Gegen- und Referenzelektrode) in einen mikrofluidischen Chip integriert wurden. Darüber hinaus war für die Durchführung der Experimente unter Wasser- und Sauerstoffaus- schluss die Konstruktion eines Handschuhkastens notwendig, sowie eine allgemeine Vorbehandlung der Elektrolytlösungen zur Entfernung gelöster Gase und Wasserreste.
Ein weiteres Projekt umfasste den Aufbau einer chemischen Gasphasenabschei- dungsapparatur zur Synthese von Kohlenstoffnanoröhren. Die hierbei durchgeführten Experimente erbrachten Klarheit über den Einfluss der Prozessparameter Druck, Temperatur und Durchflussrate an Edukten.
Aus den PL-Intensitätsänderungen bei Potenzialvariation konnten Reduktions- und Oxidationspotenziale (ERed = 0.15 V; EOx = 1.34 V) einzelner (6,5)-SWNTs gegen- über einer Platin Referenzelektrode und einem daraus resultierenden Redoxpotenzial
von ∆ERedOx = 1.19 V ermittelt werden. Durch diese einzelmolekülspektroskopische
Methode konnte zum einen gewährleistet werden, dass nur dieser spezielle Chira- litätstyp untersucht wurde und zum anderen eine Verfälschung der Resultate durch einen Potenzialabfall wie er typischerweise in CNT-Filmen auftritt aussgeschlossen werden. Eine Kombination der PL-Daten mit der Ramanintensitätsabhängigkeit des (6,5)-SWNT-S2-Übergangs bei Potenzialvariation erlaubte eine genauere Analyse des Löschmechanismus der PL von Kohlenstoffnanoröhren. Mithilfe eines von Her- tel et al. entwickelten diffusionslimitierten Stoßdesaktivierungsmodells konnte eine invers-quadratische Proportionalität zwischen der (6,5)-SWNT-Emission und den spannungsinduzierten Ladungsträgern ausgemacht werden. Auf Grundlage dieses Ergebnisses folgt, dass die über Photolumineszenzänderungen ermittelten Reduktions-und Oxidationswerte nicht mit den Bandkanten der CNTs übereinstimmen müssen, und dass für deren Bestimmung vielmehr auf Raman- bzw. Absorptionsspektroskopi- sche Techniken zurückgegriffen werden muss.
Die einzelmolekülspektroskopische Herangehensweise ermöglichte ferner eine statis- tische Analyse der Verteilung der Reduktions- und Oxidationspotenziale im Vergleich zu den jeweiligen Erwartungswerten. Hierdurch konnte eine Einteilung der Modifika- tionseinflüsse auf das SWNT-Redoxverhalten in zwei Grenzfälle erfolgen. Es wurde angenommen, dass diese als “Dispergiermitteleffekte” und “CNT-Strukturdefekte” be- zeichneten Auswirkungen entweder das Resultat einer heterodispersen Verteilung an DOC auf der CNT-Oberfläche oder eine Folge von Defekten in der CNT-Gitterstruktur waren. In diesem Zusammenhang ergab sich aus der interpartikulären Analyse der Reduktions- und Oxidationswerte eine Korrelation, die einem dominierenden Einfluss der “CNT-Strukturdefekte” zugeordnet werden konnte. Dieser Beobachtung entgegen- gesetzt konnten aber auch über Untersuchungen der Redoxpotenziale innerhalb einer (6,5)-SWNT lokale Bereiche ausgemacht werden, die eine signifikante Abhängigkeit von “Dispergiermitteleffekte” aufwiesen.
Abgesehen von diesen Einflüssen auf den Emissionsverlauf wurde auch eine Be- trachtung der Breite des spannungsgesteuerten Emissionsabfall durchgeführt. Da- raus konnte ermittelt werden, dass diese Ausdehnung eine Konsequenz aus der PL- Löschungseffizienz der Ladungsträger ist und, dass bei einer Verteilung von 0.32 Löschzentren pro Nanometer eine vollständige Abnahme der Photolumineszenzinten- sität induziert wird.
Darüber hinaus wurde im Rahmen dieser Arbeit das redoxchemische Verhalten in- dividueller (6,5)-SWNTs in Wechselwirkung mit Ferrocenmolekülen untersucht. Die erhaltenen Ergebnisse ließen annehmen, dass die sich ausbildende Verbindung nicht-kovalenter Natur ist. Zwei verschiedene Gründe führten zu dieser Erkennt- nis: einerseits ließen sich die Ferrocenmoleküle von der CNT-Oberfläche durch ein Durchspülen des mikrofluidischen Kanals mit einer reinen DMF-Lösung entfernen und andererseits war keine dauerhafte Emissionsminderung durch die Ausbildung kovalenter Bindungen zu beobachten. Aus der potenzialabhängigen PL wurde zudem ein Elektronentransfer der Ferrocenmoleküle in die optisch generierten Löcher des CNT-Valenzbandes festgestellt und über eine anregungsintensitätsabhängige Messung die Zunahme dieses Ladungstransfers bei steigendem Photonenfluss nachgewiesen.
Hinsichtlich der Anwendung von Kohlenstoffnanoröhren zur Elektrolyse bzw. Photo- lyse von Wasser wurde auch die Redoxchemie von (6,5)-SWNTs in diesem Solvens untersucht. Bezüglich der Emissionsintensität konnte gezeigt werden, dass diese im Vergleich zu organischen Lösungsmitteln reduziert vorliegt. Außerdem wurde eine irreversible Reaktion nach anodischer Polarisation über eine dauerhafte Löschung der PL beobachtet. Die Bestimmung der hierfür notwendigen Reaktionsumstände erbrachte, dass Wasser, Exzitonen (erzeugt durch optische Anregung) und spannungs- induzierte Löcher im Valenzband zur Bildung einer [SWNT(Q)]-Spezies führen, welche die irreversible Minderung der CNT-Emission verursacht. Darüber hinaus konnte die Reaktionsgeschwindigkeit über eine Kinetik pseudo-nullter-Ordnung be- schrieben werden, unter der Voraussetzung, dass die soeben genannten Parameter konstant verblieben. Desweiteren zeigte sich in einer ferrocenhaltigen Lösung, dass der Löscheffekt der [SWNT(Q)]-Spezies im anodischen Potenzialbereich teilweise reduziert wird. Es wurde angenommen, dass diese Beobachtung auf eine Oxidation der Löschzentren durch die Fc+-Kationen gründet.
Mit Hilfe der CVD-Apparatur gelang es Kohlenstoffnanoröhren zu synthetisieren, wobei Ethanol als Kohlenstoffquelle und ein Eisen-Kobalt-Zeolith-Gemenge als Ka- talysator diente. Die Analyse der verschiedenen Prozessparameter zeigte, dass bei T = 750 °C das beste Verteilungsverhältnis zwischen den gewünschten (6,5)-SWNTs und anderen CNT-Chiralitäten bzw. dem amorphen Kohlenstoff vorliegt. Hierfür war, dass bei T < 750 °C die Verbrennung unerwünschter amorpher Kohlenstoffreste nur geringfügig stattfindet, und dass bei T > 750 °C die Bildung anderer Chiralitäten mit größerem Durchmesser als die (6,5)-SWNT bevorzugt wurde. Die Variation der Durchflussrate hingegen wirkte sich nur in einer absoluten Zunahme aller Chirali- täten aus. Die Steigerung des (6,5)-SWNT-Anteils für höhere Durchflüsse gelang trotzdem durch die geschickte Auswahl geeigneter Druck- und Temperaturwerte. Die Experimente zur Untersuchung der Druckabhängigkeit wiesen auf eine Relation mit dem Gesetz von Le Chatelier hin, insofern als bei einer Druckverringerung eine Verschiebung der Ethanol-Crackreaktion auf Produktseite stattfand. In diesem Zusam- menhang wurde angenommen, dass die damit verstärkt gebildeten Moleküle Ethan, Ethen und Methan den CNT-Anteil zwar erhöhen, jedoch auch eine Steigerung der amorphen Kohlenstoffkonzentration verursachen. Dementsprechend ergab ein Druck von p = 9 mbar das beste (6,5)-SWNT zu dem amorphen Kohlenstoffverhältnis.
Anhand der Arbeiten in dieser Dissertation sind neue Erkenntnisse zwischen der PL-Sensitivität von (6,5)-SWNTs und deren Ladungszustand erhalten worden. Insbe- sondere die genaue Bestimmung der Korrelation zwischen der Photolumineszenz und den induzierten Ladungsträgern ermöglicht einen gezielteren Einsatz von Kohlenstoff- nanoröhren – so zum Beispiel im Bereich der Sensorik. In diesem Zusammenhang zeigen auch die interpartikulären Analysen der Redoxpotenzialverteilung die genau- en Auswirkungen vom Lösungsmittel und der Defektdichte auf die elektronische Struktur der CNTs auf. Darüber hinaus kann aus der Ursachenbestimmung für die Varianz der literaturbekannten Reduktions- bzw. Oxidationspotenziale fortan die ge- eignete spektroskopische Methode zur Evaluierung der Position von Leitungs- und Valenzband in Kohlenstoffnanoröhren besser eingegrenzt werden. Die spektroelektro- chemischen Analysen von (6,5)-SWNTs im Lösungsmittel Wasser und speziell die Bestimmung der Kinetik für die auftretende Reaktion liefern einen tieferen Einblick in die Wechselwirkung (6,5)-SWNT-H2O. Diese Ergebnisse sind insbesondere bei der Verwendung von Kohlenstoffnanoröhren als Elektrodenmaterial für die photolytische bzw. elektrolytische Spaltung von Wasser in Wasserstoff und Sauerstoff von Bedeu- tung. Neben der Untersuchung der SWNT-Wasser Interaktion unter andoischer und optischer Anregung, die zu einer kovalenten Bindung führte, wurde mit Hilfe der (6,5)- SWNT-Ferrocen Wechselwirkung ein Beispiel für eine nichtkovalente Redoxreaktion dargestellt, womit ein Vergleich dieser beiden Spezies und ihrer unterschiedlichen Auswirkungen auf die elektronische Struktur aufgezeigt werden konnte.
Die vorliegende Dissertation untersucht fünf unterschiedliche Moleküle hinsichtlich ihrer Geometrien im Grund- und angeregten Zustand sowie deren Dynamik
nach elektronischer Anregung. Der Fokus liegt dabei unter anderem auf Pi-konjugierten Systemen, die über eine zusätzliche aliphatische Einheit verbrückt (Paracyclophan-
Derivate) oder erweitert (Pyracen) sind. Die Paracyclophan-Derivate sind ein ideales Modellsystem um Einsicht in Pi-Pi-Wechselwirkungen zu erlangen. Ein
weiterer Schwerpunkt dieser Arbeit beschreibt die Dynamik des resonanzstabilisierten 2-Methylallyl-Radikals. Die Forschung an solchen kleinen Kohlenwasserstoff-Radikalen ist wichtig, da auf deren Grundlage Modelle entwickelt werden können, die zum Beispiel helfen, den Verbrennungsprozess aufzuklären. Aufgrund ihrer Instabilität sind solche kleinen Kohlenwasserstoff-Radikale nicht einfach zu handhaben und das spektroskopische Vermessen stellt immer eine Herausforderung dar.
Plasmonic modes supported by noble-metal nanostructures offer strong subwavelength electric-field confinement and promise the realization of nanometer-scale integrated optical circuits with well-defined functionality. In order to measure the spectral and spatial response functions of such plasmonic elements, we combine a confocal microscope setup with spectral interferometry detection. The setup, data acquisition, and data evaluation are discussed in detail by means of exemplary experiments involving propagating plasmons transmitted through silver nanowires. By considering and experimentally calibrating any setup-inherent signal delay with an accuracy of 1 fs, we are able to extract correct timing information of propagating plasmons. The method can be applied, e.g., to determine the dispersion and group velocity of propagating plasmons in nanostructures, and can be extended towards the investigation of nonlinear phenomena.
We present polarimetry, i.e. the detection of optical rotation of light polarization, in a configuration suitable for femtosecond spectroscopy. The polarimeter is based on common-path optical heterodyne interferometry and provides fast and highly sensitive detection of rotatory power. Femtosecond pump and polarimeter probe beams are integrated into a recently developed accumulative technique that further enhances sensitivity with respect to single-pulse methods. The high speed of the polarimeter affords optical rotation detection during the pump-pulse illumination period of a few seconds. We illustrate the concept on the photodissociation of the enantiomers of methyl p-tolyl sulfoxide. The sensitivity of rotatory detection, i.e. the minimum rotation angle that can be measured, is determined experimentally including all noise sources to be 0.10 milli-degrees for a measurement time of only one second and an interaction length of 250 μm. The suitability of the presented setup for femtosecond studies is demonstrated in a non-resonant two-photon photodissociation experiment.
The experimental technique predominantly employed within the scope of this Thesis constitutes one subarea of femtochemistry: the time-resolved spectroscopy of photoin-
duced chemical reactions in the liquid phase by means of molecular signatures in the mid-infrared (MIR) spectral range. Probing transient vibrational states, i.e., dynamic
changes in the vibrational motion of specic molecular subunits or functional Groups allows for a distinct separation and assignment of measured signals to emerging molecular species. For this purpose, one key building block is indispensable, which most of the investigations carried out within the eld of femtochemistry have in common: a coherent light source delivering ultrashort laser pulses with a temporal duration that matches the femtosecond time scale on which molecular motions typically occur. This instrumentation enables the observation of photoinduced chemical reactions from the
starting point|the excitation event to the appearance of intermediates to the nal formation of stable photoproducts after several pico- or nanoseconds.
This work comprises the acquisition and presentation of time-resolved spectroscopic data related to promising molecular systems upon photoexcitation as well as the im-
plementation and testing of experimental optical techniques both for the presented experiments but as well for experiments conceivable in the future. In addition, linear spectroscopy measurements and quantum-chemical simulations on the emerging chemical species have been carried out. In so doing, the primary processes and subse-
quently emerging reaction products of two compounds on a timescale of several nanoseconds after photoexcitation have been elucidated in great detail. Both compounds, the
[Mn(CO)3(tpm)]+ (tpm = tris(2-pyrazolyl)methane) CO-releasing molecule (CORM) and the 5-diazo Meldrum's acid (DMA), are of academic interest but in addition belong
to molecular classes that might be utilized in the near future as dark-stable prodrugs under physiological conditions or that are already utilized in industrial chemistry procedures, respectively. The ndings of both studies gave rise to implement and examine two techniques for prospective transient absorption experiments, namely the shaping and characterization of ultraviolet (UV) laser pulses and the recording of two-photon excitation spectra. Beyond that, since each of the depicted experiments is based on the detection of weak transient absorption signals in the MIR spectral region, two dif-
ferent detection schemes, via chirped-pulse upconversion (CPU) on the one hand and via direct multichannel MCT detection on the other hand, have been juxtaposed at the
conclusion of this work. Since both techniques are suitable in femtosecond pump-probe measurements but thereby exhibit individual strengths and weaknesses, a comparative study provides clarication of the respective pros and cons. The first study introduced within this work investigates the complex photochemistry
of DMA, a photoactive compound used in lithography and industrial chemistry. By femtosecond MIR transient absorption spectroscopy covering several nanoseconds, the
light-induced dynamics and ultrafast formation of several photoproducts from the manifold of reaction pathways have been disclosed to form a coherent picture of the overall
reaction scheme. After UV excitation of DMA dissolved in methanol to the second excited state S2, 70% of excited molecules relax back to the S0 ground state. In compet-
ing processes, they can either undergo an intramolecular Wolff rearrangement to form ketene, which reacts with a solvent molecule to an enol intermediate and further to carboxylate ester, or they rst relax to the DMA S1 state, from where they can isomerize to a diazirine. The third competing reaction channel, having the lowest quantum efficiency with respect to the rst two channels, is the formation of a singlet carbene out of the S1 state. From there an ylide can arise or, via an intersystem crossing, the triplet form of the carbene follows. Whereas the primary reaction steps occur on a picosecond timescale, the subsequently arising intermediates and stable photoproducts are formed
within a few hundreds to thousands of picoseconds. For a reliable identication of the involved compounds, density functional theory calculations on the normal modes and
Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy of the reactant and the photoproducts in the chemical equilibrium accompany the analysis of the transient spectra. Additional experiments in ethanol and isopropanol led to slight spectral shifts as well as elongated time
constants due to steric hindrance in transient spectra connected with the ester Formation channel, further substantiating the assignment of the occurring reaction pathways and photoproducts.
The study demonstrated that the combination of linear and time-resolved spectroscopic measurements in conjunction with quantum-chemical calculations constitutes a powerful tool to unravel even highly complex photoreactions exhibiting multiple consecutive intermediate states within parallel reaction pathways. Although some of the individual reaction steps, for example the ketene formation via Wolff rearrangement, have been observed on ultrashort time scales before, this work encompassed the Observation of the whole set of appearing photoproducts of DMA in different alcohol solutions within several nanoseconds. In this sense, the ultrafast photochemistry of DMA represents a prototype example for a multisequential reaction scheme, elucidated by the capabilities of femtosecond MIR spectroscopy.
With a modified instrumentation concerning amongst others the system delivering the fundamental laser pulses or the generation of the UV pump pulses, the next ob-
jective within this work was to elucidate the primary processes upon UV Irradiation of a manganese tricarbonyl CORM in aqueous environment. The time-resolved
experiment was performed with two different pump wavelengths and furthermore supported by linear spectroscopy methods and time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) calculations on the excited states as well as DFT calculations on the ground
states. The measurements revealed that irradiating the compound with UV excitation pulses primarily leads to ultrafast photolysis of one CO ligand. Geminate recombination may occur within one picosecond but it remains a minor process as the photolyzed CO
group is liberated and the unoccupied coordination site is predominantly filled by an incoming solvent molecule. There was no evidence for hot CO bands, i.e., the remaining CO ligands|in the dicarbonyl photoproduct as well as in the intact CORM are not vibrationally excited through the UV excitation of the CORM. According to this, the excess energy merges into low-frequency vibrational modes associated with the molecule as a whole. Since studies on a macroscopic scale at irradiation times of several minutes prove that UV irradiation eventually leads to the release of two or even all three CO
ligands, further loss of CO most likely necessitates manganese oxidation or another interaction with light. To clarify the latter, a consecutive UV pulse was employed in order to excite the photoproducts subsequent to the initial pump interaction. However, the data obtained was not instructive enough to denitely exclude the manganese oxidation being responsible for the loss of further CO groups. Besides the exchange of a CO Group by a solvent molecule or the geminate recombination, the employment of two different excitation wavelengths in combination with ndings derived from the TDDFT calculations suggested another reaction process, namely the possibility that the excitation does not lead to any bond cleavage at all. As the CORM under investigation is tissue-selective and cytotoxic against cancer cells, knowledge of these rst photoinduced reaction steps is essential for a full understanding of its biological activity. Inspired by these two studies, experimental techniques for prospective transient absorption measurements have been implemented and tested within preparative measure-
ments. First, in the course of a UV-pump-MIR-probe experiment with specically tailored excitation pulses, one could pursue the aim of coherently controlling the outcome of a photoreaction in the liquid phase. Out of the rich photochemistry of DMA the vibrational signature of a particular molecular species might thereby serve as a feedback signal, which is a central part of a learning loop that adaptively determines the pulse shape that steers the quantum mechanical system upon photoexcitation into a desired direction. This motivated the installation and testing of devices by means of which the shaping and characterization of ultrashort laser pulses in the UV could be performed. Second, motivated by the biological applications of CORMs, one can imagine a scenario where a certain amount of CORMs is deposited inside cancerous tissue. Since the activation of CO loss by means of UV pulses is not possible due to the absorption characteristics of biological tissue, the simultaneous excitation via two photons from the visible spectral regime seems appealing. However, success or failure of such an application depends on whether the deposited compound efficiently absorbs two photons simultaneously, i.e., whether the two-photon absorption cross section is large enough. Therefore, a setup to record two-photon excitation spectra under full consideration of
the crucial laser pulse parameters like the pulse duration, energy and central wavelength was arranged and tested. The rst results were obtained with a commercially available reference system (Mn2CO10) but the setup as well as the described measurement and
data analysis procedure can easily be applied to record the two-photon absorption cross section of more promising molecular systems. Third, as the detection of probe pulses
in the MIR spectral region is part of each time-resolved measurement throughout this thesis, a comparison between the newly established technique of CPU and direct multi-
channel MCT detection is presented by means of pump{probe experiments on Mn2CO10 and Co4CO12 with a 1 kHz shot-to-shot data acquisition. It was shown that the CPU detection technique scores with its high spectral resolution and coverage of the easy-to-handle and more cost-effective CCD detectors. On the other hand, in the course of the additional nonlinear upconversion process intensity fluctuations of the chirped fundamental pulses are transferred to the probe spectrum in the visible regime. This entails a lower signal-to-noise ratio than the direct MCT detection, which can be compensated by an additional normalization procedure applied to the CPU probe pulses. As a consequence, the CPU detection scheme offers more flexibility for future investigations
employing MIR probe pulses. This is of great importance for many applications within the presented eld of femtochemistry as a huge variety of time-resolved investigations on a multitude of systems in the liquid phase is based on the detection of weak transient
absorption signals in the MIR spectral region.