Transition metal-based chromophores represent a large class of compounds whose photophysical and photochemical properties have found utility in a wide array of settings ranging from solar energy conversion to synthetic organic chemistry. Although many of the desirable properties of these systems are associated with excited states that persist into the nanosecond and microsecond time regime, the pathways by which these excited states are formed are fully determined within the first few hundred femtoseconds following photoexcitation; in this regard, the coupling of electronic and nuclear coordinates that characterizes excited-state evolution in these systems serves as a critical link between the type of excited state (and, by extension, the type of chemistry) one would like to leverage for various applications and the synthetic design of molecules that allows those states to be accessed. This presentation will provide an overview of what we are learning concerning the interply between electronic and geometric structure in the ultrafast photophysics of transition metal complexes through our combined use of femtosecond time-resolved optical, vibrational, and x-ray spectroscopies, both from a fundamental perspective as well as a means of informing synthetic design. Included in this discussion will be the presentation of new results we have obtained on the photophysics of first-row metal complexes and their implications for the development of earth-abundant chromophores in a variety of applications.

Probing the interplay between electronic and geometric structure in the ultrafast photophysics of transition metal-based chromophores

256th National Meeting (2018)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.