About the Seminar:

The Stokes shift in electronic spectroscopy is the difference between the maximum frequency of absorption and emission. Ultrafast studies of photoactive molecules have shown a time dependence on the Stokes shift, revealing information about the dynamics of solvation and vibrational relaxation. Additionally, in many cases the role of vibrational modes in electronic excitation/emission, energy transfer, and electron transfer have been emphasized. The paper I will be discussing (Lu, Lee, Anna, J. Phys. Chem. B 2020, 124, 8857-8867) highlights a new analysis method for 2D electronic spectroscopy which detects signal modulations caused by vibrational coherences and uses them to correct the fit for the dynamic Stokes shift. This leads to more accurate measurements of the decay time for the dynamic Stokes shift, as well as allows for the determination of the dependence on excitation frequency in one 2DES experiment. I discuss how this experiment is relevant today when 2DIR and 2DES are increasingly common tools to measure photoactive systems, including photoredox catalysts.