Tracking Light-Induced Structural and Electronic Changes in Fe and Cu-Based Mononuclear Complexes Using Time-Resolved Synchrotron and XFEL-Based Scattering and Spectroscopic Techniques

Many light-induced processes of direct relevance to efficient photo-switching, photocatalysis, and photosensitization occur on the femto- to picosecond time scale and involve changes in electronic and nuclear structure on the Angstrom length scale. Using a combination of complementary ultrafast pump-probe techniques, we investigated how simple ligand modifications can significantly alter the relaxation pathways and excited state lifetimes. Additionally, we investigate the interplay between solvent-metal center interactions and the photochemistry of these complexes. Specifically, we investigate two classes of transition metal compounds: novel Fe(II)-based spin-state photo-switches with room-temperature stability and mixed-ligand Cu(I) photosensitizers.