Page 9 - Book of Invited & Keynotes Talks

th
8 Biannual Conference on Chemistry - CHEM 08

Chemistry in a New Light
Oliver Kühn
Universität Rostock, Institut für Physik, Albert-Einstein-Str. 23-24, 18059 Rostock,
Germany

ABSTRACT
The utilization of light across the electromagnetic spectrum has been vital for the
development of our knowledge about the geometric and electronic structure of
molecules, including the characterization of chemical reactions [1]. With the recent
advent of novel laser sources and sophisticated experimental techniques, paralleled
by powerful theoretical methods, a big leap forward has been possible. In this
contribution, I will provide an introduction and overview on two fields of current
activity. First, the developments in multi-dimensional spectroscopy in the infrared
and optical domain will be covered and contrasted to the respective tools known
from NMR spectroscopy. In particular so-called action-detected spectroscopies
provide a unique way of looking at elementary reactions, e.g., in photosynthetic
light-harvesting, thus challenging traditional textbook knowledge [2]. Second, large
scale but also table top laser sources are reaching into the regimes of soft X-rays and
attosecond time-resolution. X-rays provide an element specific window to the local
electron density, e.g., in metal-ligand complexes [3]. While all-X-ray nonlinear
spectroscopy is just emerging, the combination of optical excitation and Xray
detection has already demonstrated its power. Here, considerable attention has been
focused on the elementary electron or energy transfer reactions in photocatalysis [4].
The results obtained with these new experimental and theoretical tools are
remarkable. They are heralding a new era of research across all disciplines of the
natural sciences.
References
[1] Zewail, A. H., Femtochemistry, Nobel Prize Lecture 1999,
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/ 1999/zewail/lecture/
[2] Karki, K. J.; Chen, J.; Sakurai, A.; Shi, Q.; Gardiner, A. T.; Kühn, O.; Cogdell,
R. J.; Pullerits, T. Before Förster. Initial Excitation in Photosynthetic Light
Harvesting. Chem. Sci. 2019, 10, 7923.
[3] Bokarev, S. I.; Kühn, O. Theoretical X-Ray Spectroscopy of Transition Metal
Compounds. Wiley Interdiscip. Rev. Comput. Mol. Sci. 2019, e1433.
[4] Britz, A.; Bokarev, S. I.; Assefa, T. A.; Bajnóczi, É. G.; Németh, Z.; Vankó, G.;
Rockstroh, N.; Junge, H.; Beller, M.; Doumy, G.; March, A. M.; Southworth, S. H.;
Lochbrunner, S.; Kühn, O.; Bressler, C.; Gawelda, W. , Site-selective and Real-time
Observation of Electron Transfer During Photocatalytic Water Splitting.
arXiv:1911.01254 [physics.chem-ph]

BOOK OF INVITED SPEAKERS & KEYNOTES CHEM 08 (2020) Page 9