Unraveling the relaxation dynamics of Uracil: insights from time-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Faccialà, Davide, Bonanomi, Matteo, Tenorio, Bruno Nunes Cabral, Avaldi, Lorenzo, Bolognesi, Paola, Callegari, Carlo, Coreno, Marcello, Coriani, Sonia, Decleva, Piero, Devetta, Michele, Došlić, Nađa, De Fanis, Alberto, Di Fraia, Michele, Lever, Fabiano, Mazza, Tommaso, Meyer, Michael, Mullins, Terry, Ovcharenko, Yevheniy, Pal, Nitish, Piancastelli, Maria Novella, Richter, Robert, Rivas, Daniel E., Sapunar, Marin, Senfftleben, Björn, Usenko, Sergey, Vozzi, Caterina, Gühr, Markus, Prince, Kevin C., Plekan, Oksana
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Faccialà, Davide
Bonanomi, Matteo
Tenorio, Bruno Nunes Cabral
Avaldi, Lorenzo
Bolognesi, Paola
Callegari, Carlo
Coreno, Marcello
Coriani, Sonia
Decleva, Piero
Devetta, Michele
Došlić, Nađa
De Fanis, Alberto
Di Fraia, Michele
Lever, Fabiano
Mazza, Tommaso
Meyer, Michael
Mullins, Terry
Ovcharenko, Yevheniy
Pal, Nitish
Piancastelli, Maria Novella
Richter, Robert
Rivas, Daniel E.
Sapunar, Marin
Senfftleben, Björn
Usenko, Sergey
Vozzi, Caterina
Gühr, Markus
Prince, Kevin C.
Plekan, Oksana
author_facet Faccialà, Davide
Bonanomi, Matteo
Tenorio, Bruno Nunes Cabral
Avaldi, Lorenzo
Bolognesi, Paola
Callegari, Carlo
Coreno, Marcello
Coriani, Sonia
Decleva, Piero
Devetta, Michele
Došlić, Nađa
De Fanis, Alberto
Di Fraia, Michele
Lever, Fabiano
Mazza, Tommaso
Meyer, Michael
Mullins, Terry
Ovcharenko, Yevheniy
Pal, Nitish
Piancastelli, Maria Novella
Richter, Robert
Rivas, Daniel E.
Sapunar, Marin
Senfftleben, Björn
Usenko, Sergey
Vozzi, Caterina
Gühr, Markus
Prince, Kevin C.
Plekan, Oksana
contents We report a study of the electronic and nuclear relaxation dynamics of the photoexcited RNA base uracil in the gas phase, using time-resolved core level photoelectron spectroscopy together with high level calculations. The dynamics was investigated by trajectory surface-hopping calculations, and the core ionization energies were calculated for geometries sampled from these. The molecule was excited by a UV laser and dynamics was probed on the oxygen, nitrogen and carbon site by core electron spectroscopy. Assuming a particular model, we find that the initially excited $S_2(ππ^*)$ state of uracil decays with a time constant of 17 $\pm$ 4 fs to the ground state directly, or to the $S_1(nπ^*)$ state via internal conversion. We find no evidence that the $S_1(nπ^*)$ state decays to the ground state by internal conversion; instead it decays to triplet states with a time constant of 1.6 $\pm$ 0.4 ps. Oscillations of the $S_1(nπ^*)$ state O 1s intensity as a function of time correlate with those of calculated C4=O8 and C5=C6 bond lengths, which undergo a sudden expansion following the initial $π\to π^*$ excitation. We also observe oscillations in the mean energy of the main line (core ionized ionic state), which we tentatively assign to dynamics of the hot ground state. Our calculations support our interpretation of the data, and provide detailed insight into the relaxation processes of uracil.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_18723
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Unraveling the relaxation dynamics of Uracil: insights from time-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
Faccialà, Davide
Bonanomi, Matteo
Tenorio, Bruno Nunes Cabral
Avaldi, Lorenzo
Bolognesi, Paola
Callegari, Carlo
Coreno, Marcello
Coriani, Sonia
Decleva, Piero
Devetta, Michele
Došlić, Nađa
De Fanis, Alberto
Di Fraia, Michele
Lever, Fabiano
Mazza, Tommaso
Meyer, Michael
Mullins, Terry
Ovcharenko, Yevheniy
Pal, Nitish
Piancastelli, Maria Novella
Richter, Robert
Rivas, Daniel E.
Sapunar, Marin
Senfftleben, Björn
Usenko, Sergey
Vozzi, Caterina
Gühr, Markus
Prince, Kevin C.
Plekan, Oksana
Chemical Physics
We report a study of the electronic and nuclear relaxation dynamics of the photoexcited RNA base uracil in the gas phase, using time-resolved core level photoelectron spectroscopy together with high level calculations. The dynamics was investigated by trajectory surface-hopping calculations, and the core ionization energies were calculated for geometries sampled from these. The molecule was excited by a UV laser and dynamics was probed on the oxygen, nitrogen and carbon site by core electron spectroscopy. Assuming a particular model, we find that the initially excited $S_2(ππ^*)$ state of uracil decays with a time constant of 17 $\pm$ 4 fs to the ground state directly, or to the $S_1(nπ^*)$ state via internal conversion. We find no evidence that the $S_1(nπ^*)$ state decays to the ground state by internal conversion; instead it decays to triplet states with a time constant of 1.6 $\pm$ 0.4 ps. Oscillations of the $S_1(nπ^*)$ state O 1s intensity as a function of time correlate with those of calculated C4=O8 and C5=C6 bond lengths, which undergo a sudden expansion following the initial $π\to π^*$ excitation. We also observe oscillations in the mean energy of the main line (core ionized ionic state), which we tentatively assign to dynamics of the hot ground state. Our calculations support our interpretation of the data, and provide detailed insight into the relaxation processes of uracil.
title Unraveling the relaxation dynamics of Uracil: insights from time-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
topic Chemical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.18723