Studies clearly show that solvation dynamics and solute-solvent interactions impact chemical reactions, yet understanding solvent effects is relatively complicated and unpredictable. Thus, chemists heavily rely on empirical work to make predications on how the solvent influences reactions. One approach to isolating solvent-dependent dynamics is to study a spectroscopic probe in a series of chemically similar liquids. In this work, we investigate the metal tricarbonyl cyclopentadienylmanganese tricarbonyl (CMT) in a series of alkyl nitriles. By considering a series of alkyl nitriles, we are able to tune mechanical properties, such as viscosity and orientational dynamics, while maintaining similar solvent-solute interactions. Using two-dimensional infrared (2DIR) spectroscopy, we are able to extract timescales for various relaxation processes, such as spectral diffusion and intramolecular vibrational redistribution, and to correlate our findings to bulk solvent properties.

Ultrafast solvation dynamics in a series of alkyl nitriles

ACS Fall 2021

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