Tracking Electron, Proton, and Solvent Motion in Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer with Ultrafast X-rays

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Main Authors: Kahraman, Abdullah, Sachs, Michael, Ghosh, Soumen, Poulter, Benjamin I., Sucre-Rosales, Estefanía, Ryland, Elizabeth S., Garratt, Douglas, Raj, Sumana L., Powers-Riggs, Natalia, Kundu, Subhradip, Hampton, Christina Y., Hoffman, David J., Coslovich, Giacomo, Dakovski, Georgi L., Kramer, Patrick L., Chollet, Matthieu, Mori, Roberto A., van Driel, Tim B., Lee, Sang-Jun, Kunnus, Kristjan, Cordones, Amy A., Schoenlein, Robert W., Vauthey, Eric, Andersen, Amity, Govind, Niranjan, Larsen, Christopher, Biasin, Elisa
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Kahraman, Abdullah
Sachs, Michael
Ghosh, Soumen
Poulter, Benjamin I.
Sucre-Rosales, Estefanía
Ryland, Elizabeth S.
Garratt, Douglas
Raj, Sumana L.
Powers-Riggs, Natalia
Kundu, Subhradip
Hampton, Christina Y.
Hoffman, David J.
Coslovich, Giacomo
Dakovski, Georgi L.
Kramer, Patrick L.
Chollet, Matthieu
Mori, Roberto A.
van Driel, Tim B.
Lee, Sang-Jun
Kunnus, Kristjan
Cordones, Amy A.
Schoenlein, Robert W.
Vauthey, Eric
Andersen, Amity
Govind, Niranjan
Larsen, Christopher
Biasin, Elisa
author_facet Kahraman, Abdullah
Sachs, Michael
Ghosh, Soumen
Poulter, Benjamin I.
Sucre-Rosales, Estefanía
Ryland, Elizabeth S.
Garratt, Douglas
Raj, Sumana L.
Powers-Riggs, Natalia
Kundu, Subhradip
Hampton, Christina Y.
Hoffman, David J.
Coslovich, Giacomo
Dakovski, Georgi L.
Kramer, Patrick L.
Chollet, Matthieu
Mori, Roberto A.
van Driel, Tim B.
Lee, Sang-Jun
Kunnus, Kristjan
Cordones, Amy A.
Schoenlein, Robert W.
Vauthey, Eric
Andersen, Amity
Govind, Niranjan
Larsen, Christopher
Biasin, Elisa
contents Proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) is foundational to catalysis, bioenergetics, and energy conversion, yet capturing and disentangling the coupled motions of electrons, protons, and solvent has remained a major experimental challenge. We combine femtosecond optical spectroscopy, site-specific ultrafast soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and time-resolved X-ray scattering with advanced calculations to disentangle the elementary steps of PCET in solution. Using a ruthenium polypyridyl model complex, we directly resolve photoinduced electron redistribution, ligand-site protonation within 100 ps, and the accompanying solvent reorganization. This unified multi-modal approach provides an orbital-level, atomistic picture of PCET, showing how electronic, nuclear, and solvation degrees of freedom can be separated experimentally. Our results establish a general X-ray framework for understanding and ultimately controlling PCET in catalysis, artificial photosynthesis, and biological energy flow.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_03693
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Tracking Electron, Proton, and Solvent Motion in Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer with Ultrafast X-rays
Kahraman, Abdullah
Sachs, Michael
Ghosh, Soumen
Poulter, Benjamin I.
Sucre-Rosales, Estefanía
Ryland, Elizabeth S.
Garratt, Douglas
Raj, Sumana L.
Powers-Riggs, Natalia
Kundu, Subhradip
Hampton, Christina Y.
Hoffman, David J.
Coslovich, Giacomo
Dakovski, Georgi L.
Kramer, Patrick L.
Chollet, Matthieu
Mori, Roberto A.
van Driel, Tim B.
Lee, Sang-Jun
Kunnus, Kristjan
Cordones, Amy A.
Schoenlein, Robert W.
Vauthey, Eric
Andersen, Amity
Govind, Niranjan
Larsen, Christopher
Biasin, Elisa
Chemical Physics
Proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) is foundational to catalysis, bioenergetics, and energy conversion, yet capturing and disentangling the coupled motions of electrons, protons, and solvent has remained a major experimental challenge. We combine femtosecond optical spectroscopy, site-specific ultrafast soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and time-resolved X-ray scattering with advanced calculations to disentangle the elementary steps of PCET in solution. Using a ruthenium polypyridyl model complex, we directly resolve photoinduced electron redistribution, ligand-site protonation within 100 ps, and the accompanying solvent reorganization. This unified multi-modal approach provides an orbital-level, atomistic picture of PCET, showing how electronic, nuclear, and solvation degrees of freedom can be separated experimentally. Our results establish a general X-ray framework for understanding and ultimately controlling PCET in catalysis, artificial photosynthesis, and biological energy flow.
title Tracking Electron, Proton, and Solvent Motion in Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer with Ultrafast X-rays
topic Chemical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.03693