Capturing Elusive Intermediates with X-rays

Speaker:  Anne Marie March, ANL

Program Description:
Observing light-induced reactions in liquids, where much of chemistry happens, and on the timescales during which these reactions occur, has been a long-standing objective.  Knowledge of the mechanistic details at the molecular scale can inform rational design of new molecules for applications such as light harvesting and energy conversion and illuminate new means of controlling reactions. In this talk I will discuss why x-ray spectroscopy is so powerful for probing photochemical reactions, highlighting our group’s work on the ligand exchange reaction of the model complex ferrous hexacyanide in water with synchrotron x-rays, and touch upon the emerging opportunities to access the early dynamics at XFELs.