Seminars Archive
Optical and Dynamical Properties of Hydrogen Bonded Systems
Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Zagreb
Abstract
The research started more than a decade ago with the idea of triggering intramolecular H-transfer by ultrashort laser pulses. During this period the field of laser control has been flourishing, the control of complex chemical reactions in the gas and condensed phase has been achieved, but the dream of experimental control of an H-transfer reaction has not been realized. In this talk I will expose the complexity of this apparently simple isomerization reaction and its obstinacy to avoid control: from the intrinsic time scale of the reaction that dictates the characteristic of the laser pulses, through the quantum nature of H-transfer, to the intrinsic multidimensionality of the reaction.
In the second part of the talk we focus on optical properties of H-bonded systems. We will show how the absorption properties of the protonated Schiff base of retinal in solution can be understood in terms of multidimensional H-bonding and how in capped dipepdides containing UV chromophores the lack of signature of a specific secondary structure in the R2PI spectra may be related to its photochemistry.
