journal menu
abstracts
High-resolution hard x-ray spectroscopies (XES, HERFD, RIXS, XRS) are now well-established characterization tools for providing insights of material's electronic and geometric structure. The high brilliance synchrotron radiation beamlines have made feasible the routine study of the electronic structure and ligand environment of metal coordination compounds and active centers in metalloproteins, electrochemical process under in-situ conditions, as well as studies on catalytic systems under ambient conditions. Moreover, the recent availability of Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), provides some unique opportunities for the study of ultrafast electronic structure dynamics in various phenomena such as electron transfer processes, transient molecular states, molecular dissociation, etc. At SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory we have developed recently a set of high-resolution x-ray spectroscopic capabilities based on various multicrystal spectrometers. At SSRL we have built three multicrystal Johann spectrometers enabling XES/RIXS/HERDF techniques as well as X-ray Raman Spectroscopy. For LCLS, we have developed an energy dispersive multicrystal von Hamos spectrometer that records simultaneously the overall emission spectrum, enabling shot-by-shot time-resolved studies. Representative examples of application will be shown and discussed from the ongoing spectroscopy programs of SSRL and LCLS.
abstracts
The photosynthetic water oxidation reaction is energetically demanding and mechanistically complex because of the difficulties in managing the four electron, four proton redox chemistry required for the evolution of molecular oxygen starting from two water molecules. The reaction takes place in Photosystem II (PS II), a multi-subunit membrane protein present in plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. This sunlight-driven reaction is catalyzed by an oxygen-evolving complex (OEC), that consists of an oxo-bridged four Mn and one Ca cluster. O2 is formed and released only after four oxidation equivalents are accumulated at the OEC. The structure of the Mn4CaO5 cluster has been studied by various spectroscopic and diffraction methods. The recent XRD study by Umena et al.[1] has shown the oxo-bridged Mn4Ca cluster structure at 1.9 Å resolution. Based on this high-resolution XRD structure, there have been efforts to obtain chemically optimized structures and structural changes of the Mn4CaO5 cluster during the catalytic cycle using spectroscopic parameters and theoretical approaches. EXAFS spectra of the PS II S states show that the structure of the Mn4CaO5 cluster changes during the catalytic cycle.[2] In particular, the short Mn-Mn distances change in the range of 2.7 to 2.9 Å. Such changes in oxygen-bridged Mn-Mn distances can reflect several chemical parameters; Mn oxidation state changes, protonation state changes of bridging oxygens, ligation modes (e.g. bidentate/monodentate), as well as fundamental changes in geometry. We have also used femtosecond X-ray spectroscopy and crystallography to study the catalytic process of the OEC.[3] The femtosecond X-ray pulses of the free-electron laser allows us to out-run X-ray damage at room temperature, and the time-evolution of the photo-induced reaction can be probed using a visible laser-pump followed by the X-ray-probe pulse. We will discuss a possible water oxidation mechanism based on these results.
