With support from the Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities: Multiuser program (CRIF:MU), the Department of Chemistry at Ohio State University will acquire a femtosecond, regeneratively amplified Ti:Sapphire laser system, in conjunction with a multichannel detection system, to perform femtosecond stimulated Raman Spectroscopy experiments. The instrumentation will be used to provide understanding to several important problems in chemical science, including (a) how energy flows in the excited states of molecules, from the observed photophysical and photochemical properties of organometallic compounds, nitrenes, carbenes and DNA; (b) how to enhance charge injection and propagation processes in organometallic compounds for solar energy conversion; (c) how vibrational relaxation mediates ultrafast internal conversion of nucleic acids; and (d) what the molecular nature of the localized excited state is in systems used in the photocleavage of DNA by charge transfer states.
Raman spectroscopy is a powerful tool for studying vibrational spectra in molecules and macromolecular systems such as DNA. The spectra will provide information on chemical bonding and the effect from the surrounding environment in these systems. Time resolved Raman spectroscopy allows the study of short lived photochemical species and excited states providing dynamical information on energy flow and relaxation as well. The laser Raman system in the Center for Chemical and Biophysical Dynamics at Ohio State will be used in research by undergraduates and graduate students and provide them training with state-of-the-art equipment.
