Tracking chemical reactions in solution by time-resolved X-ray scattering

Synchrotron-Based Time-Resolved X-ray Solution Scattering (Liquidography)

Visualizing molecular structures in the course of a reaction process is one of the major grand challenges in chemistry, biology and physics. In particular, most chemical and biologically relevant reactions occur in solution, and solution-phase reactions exhibit rich chemistry due to the solute-solvent interplay. Studying photo-induced reactions in the solution phase offers opportunities for und...

Spatiotemporal kinetics in solution studied by time-resolved X-ray liquidography (solution scattering).

Information about temporally varying molecular structure during chemical processes is crucial for understanding the mechanism and function of a chemical reaction. Using ultrashort optical pulses to trigger a reaction in solution and using time-resolved X-ray diffraction (scattering) to interrogate the structural changes in the molecules, time-resolved X-ray liquidography (TRXL) is a direct tool...

Visualizing chemical reactions in solution by picosecond x-ray diffraction.

We present a time-resolved x-ray diffraction study to monitor the recombination of laser-dissociated iodine molecules dissolved in CCl4. The change in structure of iodine is followed during the whole recombination process. The deexcitation of solute molecules produces a heating of the solvent and induces tiny changes in its structure. The variations in the distance between pairs of chlorine ato...

Identifying major transient species by combining time- resolved X-ray solution scattering and X-ray absorption spectroscopy

Protein crystallography 1. Tracking the structural dynamics of proteins in solution using time-resolved wide-angle X-ray scattering

We demonstrate tracking of protein structural changes with time-resolved wide-angle X-ray scattering (TR-WAXS) with nanosecond time resolution. We investigated the tertiary and quaternary conformational changes of human hemoglobin under nearly physiological conditions triggered by laser-induced ligand photolysis. We also report data on optically induced tertiary relaxations of myoglobin and ref...