The dynamics of a series of small molecule probes with increasing alkyl chain length: water, methanol, and ethanol, diluted to low concentration in the room temperature ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, was investigated with 2D infrared vibrational echo (2D IR) spectroscopy and polarization resolved pump-probe (PP) experiments on the deuterated hydroxyl (O-D) stretching mode of each of the solutes. The long timescale spectral diffusion observed by 2D IR, capturing complete loss of vibrational frequency correlation through structural fluctuation of the medium, shows a clear but not dramatic slowing as the probe alkyl chain length is increased: 23 ps for water, 28 ps for methanol, and 34 ps for ethanol. Although in each case, only a single population of hydroxyl oscillators contributes to the infrared line shapes, the isotropic pump-probe decays (normally caused by population relaxation) are markedly nonexponential at short times. The early time features correspond to the timescales of the fast spectral diffusion measured with 2D IR. These fast isotropic pump-probe decays are produced by unequal pumping of the OD absorption band to a nonequilibrium frequency dependent population distribution caused by significant non-Condon effects. Orientational correlation functions for these three systems, obtained from pump-probe anisotropy decays, display several periods of restricted angular motion (wobbling-in-a-cone) followed by complete orientational randomization. The cone half-angles, which characterize the angular potential, become larger as the experimental frequency moves to the blue. These results indicate weakening of the angular potential with decreasing hydrogen bond strength. The slowest components of the orientational anisotropy decays are frequency-independent and correspond to the complete orientational randomization of the solute molecule. These components slow appreciably with increasing chain length: 25 ps for water, 42 ps for methanol, and 88 ps for ethanol. The shape and volume of the probe, therefore, impact reorientation far more severely than they do spectral diffusion at long times, though these two processes occur on similar timescales at earlier times.

In nearly all applications of ultrafast multidimensional infrared spectroscopy, the spectral degrees of freedom (e.g., transition frequency) and the orientation of the transition dipole are assumed to be decoupled. We present experimental results which confirm that frequency fluctuations can be caused by rotational motion and observed under appropriate conditions. A theory of the frequency-frequency correlation function (FFCF) observable under various polarization conditions is introduced, and model calculations are found to reproduce the qualitative trends in FFCF rates. The FFCF determined with polarization-selective two-dimensional infrared (2D IR) spectroscopy is a direct reporter of the frequency-rotational coupling. For the solute methanol in a room temperature ionic liquid, the FFCF of the hydroxyl (O-D) stretch decays due to spectral diffusion with different rates depending on the polarization of the excitation pulses. The 2D IR vibrational echo pulse sequence consists of three excitation pulses that generate the vibrational echo, a fourth pulse. A faster FFCF decay is observed when the first two excitation pulses are polarized perpendicular to the third pulse and the echo, 〈XXY Y〉, than in the standard all parallel configuration, 〈XXXX〉, in which all four pulses have the same polarization. The 2D IR experiment with polarizations 〈XY XY〉 ("polarization grating" configuration) gives a FFCF that decays even more slowly than in the 〈XXXX〉 configuration. Polarization-selective 2D IR spectra of bulk water do not exhibit polarization-dependent FFCF decays; spectral diffusion is effectively decoupled from reorientation in the water system.

A vibrational transition frequency can couple to its environment through a directional vector interaction. In such cases, reorientation of the vibrational transition dipole (molecular orientational relaxation) and its frequency fluctuations can be strongly coupled. It was recently shown [Kramer et al., J. Chem. Phys. 142, 184505 (2015)] that differing frequency-frequency correlation function (FFCF) decays, due to reorientation-induced spectral diffusion (RISD), are observed with different two-dimensional infrared polarization configurations when such strong coupling is present. The FFC functional forms were derived for the situation in which all spectral diffusion is due to reorientational motion. We extend the previous theory to include vibrational frequency evolution (spectral diffusion) caused by structural fluctuations of the medium. Model systems with diffusive reorientation and several regimes of structural spectral diffusion rates are analyzed for first order Stark effect interactions. Additionally, the transition dipole reorientational motion in complex environments is frequently not completely diffusive. Several periods of restricted angular motion (wobbling-in-a-cone) may precede the final diffusive orientational randomization. The polarization-weighted FFCF decays are presented in this case of restricted transition dipole wobbling. With these extensions to the polarization-dependent FFCF expressions, the structural spectral diffusion dynamics of methanol in the room temperature ionic liquid 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate can be separated quantitatively from RISD using the experimental center line slope data. In addition, prior results on the spectral diffusion of water, methanol, and ethanol in 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide are re-examined to elucidate the influence of reorientation on the data, which were interpreted in terms of structural fluctuations.

Ionic liquids (ILs), which have widely tunable structural motifs and intermolecular interactions with solutes, have been proposed as possible carbon capture media. To inform the choice of an optimal ionic liquid system, it can be useful to understand the details of dynamics and interactions on fundamental time scales (femtoseconds to picoseconds) of dissolved gases, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2), within the complex solvation structures present in these uniquely organized materials. The rotational and local structural fluctuation dynamics of CO2 in the room temperature ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (EmimNTf2) were investigated by using ultrafast infrared spectroscopy to interrogate the CO2 asymmetric stretch. Polarization-selective pump probe measurements yielded the orientational correlation function of the CO2 vibrational transition dipole. It was found that reorientation of the carbon dioxide occurs on 3 time scales: 0.91 ± 0.03, 8.3 ± 0.1, 54 ± 1 ps. The initial two are attributed to restricted wobbling motions originating from a gating of CO2 motions by the IL cations and anions. The final (slowest) decay corresponds to complete orientational randomization. Two-dimensional infrared vibrational echo (2D IR) spectroscopy provided information on structural rearrangements, which cause spectral diffusion, through the time dependence of the 2D line shape. Analysis of the time-dependent 2D IR spectra yields the frequency-frequency correlation function (FFCF). Polarization-selective 2D IR experiments conducted on the CO2 asymmetric stretch in the parallel- and perpendicular-pumped geometries yield significantly different FFCFs due to a phenomenon known as reorientation-induced spectral diffusion (RISD), revealing strong vector interactions with the liquid structures that evolve slowly on the (independently measured) rotation time scales. To separate the RISD contribution to the FFCF from the structural spectral diffusion contribution, the previously developed first order Stark effect RISD model is reformulated to describe the second order (quadratic) Stark effect--the first order Stark effect vanishes because CO2 does not have a permanent dipole moment. Through this analysis, we characterize the structural fluctuations of CO2 in the ionic liquid solvation environment, which separate into magnitude-only and combined magnitude and directional correlations of the liquid's time dependent electric field. This new methodology will enable highly incisive comparisons between CO2 dynamics in a variety of ionic liquid systems.

Polymeric hydrogels have wide applications including electrophoresis, biocompatible materials, water superadsorbents, and contact lenses. The properties of hydrogels involve the poorly characterized molecular dynamics of water and solutes trapped within the three-dimensional cross-linked polymer networks. Here we apply ultrafast two-dimensional infrared (2D IR) vibrational echo and polarization-selective pump-probe (PSPP) spectroscopies to investigate the ultrafast molecular dynamics of water and a small molecular anion solute, selenocyanate (SeCN), in polyacrylamide hydrogels. For all mass concentrations of polymer studied (5% and above), the hydrogen-bonding network reorganization (spectral diffusion) dynamics and reorientation dynamics reported by both water and SeCN solvated by water are significantly slower than in bulk water. As the polymer mass concentration increases, molecular dynamics in the hydrogels slow further. The magnitudes of the slowing, measured with both water and SeCN, are similar. However, the entire hydrogen-bonding network of water molecules appears to slow down as a single ensemble, without a difference between the core water population and the interface water population at the polymer-water surface. In contrast, the dissolved SeCN do exhibit two-component dynamics, where the major component is assigned to the anions fully solvated in the confined water nanopools. The slower component has a small amplitude which is correlated with the polymer mass concentration and is assigned to adsorbed anions strongly interacting with the polymer fiber networks.