Ultrafast dynamics of water in nonaqueous liquids [electronic resource]
Keywords: Chemistry.

The dynamic structure of water and its hydrogen bond network are important in nature. Water molecules make highly directed hydrogen bonds that allow it to form extended hydrogen bond networks in the bulk. In this extended network, water's directional hydrogen bonds are readily fluctuating and exchanging. When interacting with molecules other than itself, water behaves differently than what is observed in the bulk. The dynamics of water molecules in a heterogeneous environment is dictated in large part by the size and hydrogen bonding nature of the interacting non-water species. While water still forms directed hydrogen bonds in heterogeneous environments, the dynamics of the water molecules are altered by disruption of water's extended hydrogen bond network. The studies described herein are concerned with how water's orientational and structural dynamics change as it interacts with non-water species in solution which has relevance to chemical and biological systems. Ultrafast infrared spectroscopic techniques are used to examine water and its hydrogen bonding network. These methods interrogate molecular systems with femtosecond infrared pulses which can probe the dynamics of water molecules (100s of fs to ps) on the time scale with which they move. Changes in local molecular structure can be monitored by observing changes in vibrational frequency. The stretching mode of deuterated hydroxyl (OD) groups serves as the vibrational probe for the experiments. In these studies, both two-dimensional infrared vibrational echo (2D IR) spectroscopy and polarization selective pump-probe spectroscopy are employed to monitor the dynamics of water molecules in non-aqueous environments. The pump-probe experiments provide information on both the vibrational lifetime and orientational relaxation of water molecules within the sample. 2D IR experiments characterize the spectral diffusion of the vibrational mode through the frequency-frequency correlation function (FFCF) which monitors the structural evolution of water's hydrogen bonds. The dynamics of water in two systems are discussed in this thesis. The first study examines the dynamics of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)/water solutions over a wide range of water concentrations. Both linear IR absorption spectra and vibrational population relaxation studies show that water-water and water-DMSO interactions are present, even at very low water concentration. Though water forms multiple hydrogen bonding partners, observation of a single ensemble anisotropy indicates the concerted reorientation between water and DMSO molecules in solution. In addition to OHD-OKE experiments, which track the orientational relaxation timescales to be similar to that of water suggests that the reorientation of water is coupled to that of the DMSO molecules in solution. Interpretation of FFCF measurements from the 2D IR experiment shows fast, local hydrogen bond fluctuations and slower longer structural fluctuations associated with global hydrogen bond rearrangement. In the second system, the vibrational dynamics of spatially isolated water molecules were examined in the room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate (BmImPF6). The antisymmetric and symmetric modes of D2O are well resolved, which is unusual for the condensed phase. The spectral separation of the two peaks make it possible to study the inter and intramolecular dynamics of a vibrationally excited water molecule. Examination of the intramolecular dynamics focused mainly on the redistribution of vibrational energy throughout the water molecule. Both population exchange between vibrational modes and excited-state relaxation were monitored to determine the timescales vibrational energy exchange and relaxation. In addition, coherent quantum beats were observed in short time amplitude and frequency correlation trajectories. Oscillations in the crosspeak shape, from highly correlated to slightly anti-correlated, show that coherent transfer of energy between the two modes occurs in a slightly anti-correlated fashion. The slight anti-correlation can be explained by a distribution in the coupling strength between the local hydroxyl modes. The water's dynamics as influenced by the surrounding salt molecules was examined using both FFCF of the crosspeak shape as well as the orientational relaxation. Timescales for orientational relaxation and structural rearrangements of the isolated water molecules within solution were determined.