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An active environment is any atomic or molecular system changing a chromophore's nonadiabatic dynamics compared to the isolated molecule. The action of the environment on the chromophore occurs by changing the potential energy landscape and triggering new energy and charge flows unavailable in the vacuum. Surface hopping is a mixed quantum-classical approach whose extreme flexibility has made it the primary platform for implementing novel methodologies to investigate the nonadiabatic dynamics of a chromophore in active environments. This Perspective paper surveys the latest developments in the field, focusing on charge and energy transfer processes. ispartof: PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY CHEMICAL PHYSICS vol:25 issue:12 pages:8293-8316 ispartof: location:England status: published

In haemoglobin the change from the low-spin (LS) hexacoordinated haem to the high spin (HS, S = 2) pentacoordinated domed deoxy-myoglobin (deoxyMb) form upon ligand detachment from the haem and the reverse process upon ligand binding are what ultimately drives the respiratory function. Here we probe them in the case of Myoglobin-NO (MbNO) using element- and spin-sensitive femtosecond Fe Kα and Kβ X-ray emission spectroscopy at an X-ray free-electron laser (FEL). We find that the change from the LS (S = 1/2) MbNO to the HS haem occurs in ~800 fs, and that it proceeds via an intermediate (S = 1) spin state. We also show that upon NO recombination, the return to the planar MbNO ground state is an electronic relaxation from HS to LS taking place in ~30 ps. Thus, the entire ligand dissociation-recombination cycle in MbNO is a spin cross-over followed by a reverse spin cross-over process., The change from low-spin hexacoordinated to high-spin pentacoordinated domed form in heam upon ligand detachment and the reverse process underlie the respiratory function. The authors, using femtosecond time-resolved X-ray emission spectroscopy, capture the transient states connecting the two forms in myoglobin-NO upon NO photoinduced detachment.

The structure-function relationship is at the heart of biology, and major protein deformations are correlated to specific functions. For ferrous heme proteins, doming is associated with the respiratory function in hemoglobin and myoglobins. Cytochrome c (Cyt c) has evolved to become an important electron-transfer protein in humans. In its ferrous form, it undergoes ligand release and doming upon photoexcitation, but its ferric form does not release the distal ligand, while the return to the ground state has been attributed to thermal relaxation. Here, by combining femtosecond Fe K-alpha and K-beta X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) with Fe K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES), we demonstrate that the photocycle of ferric Cyt c is entirely due to a cascade among excited spin states of the iron ion, causing the ferric heme to undergo doming, which we identify. We also argue that this pattern is common to a wide diversity of ferric heme proteins, raising the question of the biological relevance of doming in such proteins.

The ease with which an energetic material (explosives, propellants, and pyrotechnics) can be initiated is a critical parameter to assess their safety and application. Impact sensitivity parameters are traditionally derived experimentally, at great cost and risk to safety. In this work we explore a fully ab initio approach based on concepts of vibrational energy transfer to predict impact sensitivities for a series of chemically, structurally and energetically diverse molecular materials. The quality of DFT calculations is assessed for a subset of the materials by comparison with experimental inelastic neutron scattering spectra (INS). A variety of models are considered, including both qualitative and quantitative analysis of the vibrational spectra. Excellent agreement against experimental impact sensitivity is achieved by consideration of a multi-phonon ladder-type up-pumping mechanism that includes both overtone and combination pathways, and is improved further by the added consideration of temperature. This fully ab initio approach not only permits ranking of energetic materials in terms of their impact sensitivity but also provides a tool to guide the targeted design of advanced energetic compounds with tailored properties.

A new ab initio based chemical model for a Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) study suitable for simulating rarefied flows with a high degree of non-equilibrium is presented. To this end, Collision Induced Dissociation (CID) cross sections for N-2 + N-2 -> N-2 + 2N are calculated and published using a global complete active space self-consistent field-complete active space second order perturbation theory N-4 potential energy surface and quasi-classical trajectory algorithm for high energy collisions (up to 30 eV). CID cross sections are calculated for only a selected set of ro-vibrational combinations of the two nitrogen molecules, and a fitting scheme based on spectroscopic weights is presented to interpolate the CID cross section for all possible ro-vibrational combinations. The new chemical model is validated by calculating equilibrium reaction rate coefficients that can be compared well with existing shock tube and computational results. High-enthalpy hypersonic nitrogen flows around a cylinder in the transition flow regime are simulated using DSMC to compare the predictions of the current ab initio based chemical model with the prevailing phenomenological model (the total collision energy model). The differences in the predictions are discussed. Published by AIP Publishing.

Hydrogen-bonding plays a crucial role in many chemical and biochemical reactions. Alcohols, with their hydrophilic and hydrophobic groups, constitute an important class of hydrogen-bonding molecules with functional tuning possibilities through changes in the hydrophobic tails. Recent studies demonstrated that for solutions of alcohols changes in the hydrophobic tail significantly affect a broad range of dynamics properties of the liquid. Still, the understanding is lacking on the origin of such differences in terms of a solvent-versus a solute-dominated effect. Here we reveal this origin by studying hydrogen-bond dynamics in a number of alcohol molecules - from methanol to butanol - diluted in a hydrogen-bond accepting environment, acetonitrile. The dynamics were investigated by pump-probe and 2D infrared spectroscopy combined with molecular dynamics-spectral simulations, using the OH stretching mode as a reporter. For all the considered alcohols, the vibrational lifetime of the OH stretching mode was found to be similar to 3 ps. The hydrogen-bond dynamics exhibit similar behavior with a fast (similar to 200 fs) initial relaxation dominated by librational motion and a slow (similar to 4 ps) relaxation due to hydrogen-bond exchange dynamics. The similar dynamics over such a broad range of alcohols led us to conclude that the previously observed differences in dynamics in bulk alcohols originate from the dependence of the solvent properties on the hydrophobic tail, while the solute properties as found herein are essentially independent of the hydrophobic tail.

Solid-state reactions are influenced by the spatial arrangement of the reactants and the electrostatic environment of the lattice, which may enable lattice-directed chemical dynamics. Unlike the caging imposed by an inert matrix, an active lattice participates in the reaction, however, little evidence of such lattice participation has been gathered on ultrafast timescales due to the irreversibility of solid-state chemical systems. Here, by lowering the temperature to 80 K, we have been able to study the dissociative photochemistry of the triiodide anion (I3−) in single-crystal tetra-n-butylammonium triiodide using broadband transient absorption spectroscopy. We identified the coherently formed tetraiodide radical anion (I4•−) as a reaction intermediate. Its delayed appearance after that of the primary photoproduct, diiodide radical I2•−, indicates that I4•− was formed via a secondary reaction between a dissociated iodine radical (I•) and an adjacent I3−. This chemistry occurs as a result of the intermolecular interaction determined by the crystalline arrangement and is in stark contrast with previous solution studies. Dissociative reactions in the solid state are prone to sample damage. Now, improved sample handling and measurement conditions enable the study of the dissociative reaction of a model triatomic system in the solid state on ultrafast timescales, revealing the significant impact of lattice coordination on the reaction pathway.

Two main approaches were combined aiming at evaluating the impact of polyvalent salt cations on the formation of ionic-liquid-based aqueous biphasic systems (ABS): (1) experimental determination of a large array of ternary phase diagrams composed of sodium-, magnesium-, and aluminum-based salts with 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium-based ionic liquids and (ii) determination of the ions speciation in each of these systems. The results here reported show, for the first time, that the phase behavior of ionic-liquid-based aqueous biphasic systems is not only dominated by the ability of the strong and \"free\" salting-out ions to interact with water creating thus hydration complexes but also a result of the interactions occurring between the different ions and, particularly, on their speciation in aqueous solutions. The gathered data indicate that the higher the salt ion valence, the more complex is its speciation with a number of different species in aqueous media present. Further results based on NMR spectroscopy and a proper analysis of the pH influence clearly demonstrated the impact of ion speciation through the phase separation and ABS formation.

The ability to characterise and control matter far away from equilibrium is a frontier challenge facing modern science. In this article, we sketch out a heuristic structure for thinking about the different ways in which non-equilibrium phenomena can impact molecular reaction dynamics. Our analytical schema includes three different regimes, organised according to increasing dynamical resolution: at the lowest resolution, we have conformer phase space, at an intermediate resolution, we have energy space; and at the highest resolution, we have mode space. Within each regime, we discuss practical definitions of non-equilibrium phenomena, mostly in terms of the corresponding relaxation timescales. Using this analytical framework, we discuss some recent non-equilibrium reaction dynamics studies spanning isolated small-molecule ensembles, gas-phase ensembles and solution-phase ensembles. This includes new results that provide insight into how non-equilibrium phenomena impact the solution-phase alkenehydroboration reaction. We emphasise that interesting non-equilibrium dynamical phenomena often occur when the relaxation timescales characterising each regime are similar. In closing, we reflect on outstanding challenges and future research directions to guide our understanding of how non-equilibrium phenomena impact reaction dynamics.

The bulk viscosity of molecular models of gases and liquids is determined by molecular simulations as a combination of a dilute gas contribution, arising due to the relaxation of internal degrees of freedom, and a configurational contribution, due to the presence of intermolecular interactions. The dilute gas contribution is evaluated using experimental data for the relaxation times of vibrational and rotational degrees of freedom. The configurational part is calculated using Green-Kubo relations for the fluctuations of the pressure tensor obtained from equilibrium microcanonical molecular dynamics simulations. As a benchmark, the Lennard- Jones fluid is studied. Both atomistic and coarse-grained force fields for water, CO 2 and n-decane are considered and tested for their accuracy. Comparison to experimental data, where present, demonstrates that the tested models show various degrees of success in predicting bulk viscosity values, although atomistic force fields in general seem to perform more consistently than the corresponding coarse-grained counterparts. The dilute gas contribution to the bulk viscosity is seen to be significant only in the cases when intramolecular relaxation times are in the μ s range, and for low vibrational wave numbers ( < 1000 cm − 1 ); This explains the abnormally high values of bulk viscosity reported for CO 2 . In all other cases studied, the dilute gas contribution is negligible, and the configurational contribution dominates the overall behaviour. In particular, the configurational term is responsible for the enhancement of the bulk viscosity near the critical point.

A spectroscopic investigation of the vibrational dynamics of water in a geometrically confined environment is presented. Reverse micelles of the ternary microemulsion H2O/AOT/n-octane (AOT = bis-2-ethylhexyl sulfosuccinate or aerosol-OT) with diameters ranging from 1 to 10 nm are used as a model system for nanoscopic water droplets surrounded by a soft-matter boundary. Femtosecond nonlinear infrared spectroscopy in the OH-stretching region of H2O fully confirms the core/shell model, in which the entrapped water molecules partition onto two molecular subensembles: a bulk-like water core and a hydration layer near the ionic surfactant headgroups. These two distinct water species display different relaxation kinetics, as they do not exchange vibrational energy. The observed spectrotemporal ultrafast response exhibits a local character, indicating that the spatial confinement influences approximately one molecular layer located near the water-amphiphile boundary. The core of the encapsulated water droplet is similar in its spectroscopic properties to the bulk phase of liquid water, i.e., it does not display any true confinement effects such as droplet-size-dependent vibrational lifetimes or rotational correlation times. Unlike in bulk water, no intermolecular transfer of OH-stretching quanta occurs among the interfacial water molecules or from the hydration shell to the bulk-like core, indicating that the hydrogen bond network near the H2O/AOT interface is strongly disrupted.

The temperature dependence of the optical non-linear response of dye molecules dissolved in a glass-forming liquid over a temperature range that includes the glass transition is investigated. Cooling down to temperatures below the glass transition dramatically slows the diffusive motion of the solvent molecules, while the bath retains its strong amorphous character. The results of ultrafast experiments such as echo-peak shift and heterodyne-detected echo are presented. The temperature dependence of the optical response is discussed within the context of the multimode Brownian oscillator model that is commonly used to describe dynamics in liquids. Freezing out a large part of the bath fluctuations allows for testing of the physical interpretation associated with this model. A temperature-dependent spectral density is proposed that can describe the results at all temperatures over the explored temperature range. The temperature dependence follows readily from the physical processes that are associated with the various parts of the density of states, with the exception of the fastest modes. The temperature dependence of these modes is inspected closely and the spectral shape is reinterpreted. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A detailed photophysical investigation of the photocatalytic water oxidation system based on the tetraruthenium polyoxometalate [Ru4(μ-O)4(μ–OH)2(H2O)4(γ-SiW10O36)2]10– (1) as the catalyst, the tetranuclear ruthenium dendrimer [Ru{(μ-2,3-dpp)Ru(bpy)2}3]8+ (2) as the light-harvesting photosensitizer, and persulfate (S2O82–) as the sacrificial electron acceptor has shown that the water oxidation mechanism proceeds through an unusual, “anti-biomimetic” pathway: The first photochemical event is indeed a reductive quenching of the excited photosensitizer by the catalyst, followed by electron scavenging by the sacrificial electron acceptor, both occurring on the picosecond time scale within ion-paired species. As an unprecedented photoreaction mechanism for molecular water oxidation systems, these results suggest a new way to combine photosensitizers and catalysts, taking advantage of suitable chemical interactions and alternative photoinduced processes for the construction of efficient water-splitting devices.

Multicolor infrared ultrafast spectroscopy is applied to investigate the vibrational relaxation dynamics in liquid water at room temperature with both the stretching and the bending mode being photoexcited and probed. A unified model, capable of the reproduction of as much as 150 transients, yielded cross-sections and relaxation times for the stretching and bending modes. It is demonstrated, that the energy from the initially excited stretching vibration is partitioned to the bending modes of approximately two water molecules.

We report the vibrational spectra of o-fluorophenylacetylene (OFPA), m-fluorophenylacetylene (MFPA), and p-fluorophenylacetylene (PFPA) in the electronically excited S-1 and cationic ground D-0 states. These new data show that the relative location of the fluorine atom with respect to the acetylenic group can influence the transition energy and molecular vibration. The adiabatic ionization energies of these structural isomers follow the order: PFPA < OFPA < MFPA. It is found that the molecular geometries of these molecules in the D-0 state resemble those in the S-1 state. Detailed spectral analysis suggests that the in-plane ring deformation vibrations are slightly "harder" in the Do state than the corresponding ones in the S-1 state.

This article explores the extent to which insights gleaned from detailed studies of molecular photodissociations in the gas phase (i.e. under isolated molecule conditions) can inform our understanding of the corresponding photofragmentation processes in solution. Systems selected for comparison include a thiophenol (p-methylthiophenol), a thioanisole (p-methylthioanisole) and phenol, in vacuum and in cyclohexane solution. UV excitation in the gas phase results in RX-Y (X = O, S; Y = H, CH3) bond fission in all cases, but over timescales that vary by similar to 4 orders of magnitude - all of which behaviours can be rationalised on the basis of the relevant bound and dissociative excited state potential energy surfaces (PESs) accessed by UV photoexcitation, and of the conical intersections that facilitate radiationless transfer between these PESs. Time-resolved UV pump-broadband UV/visible probe and/or UV pump-broadband IR probe studies of the corresponding systems in cyclohexane solution reveal additional processes that are unique to the condensed phase. Thus, for example, the data clearly reveal evidence of (i) vibrational relaxation of the photoexcited molecules prior to their dissociation and of the radical fragments formed upon X-Y bond fission, and (ii) geminate recombination of the RX and Y products (leading to reformation of the ground state parent and/or isomeric adducts). Nonetheless, the data also show that, in each case, the characteristics (and the timescale) of the initial bond fission process that occurs under isolated molecule conditions are barely changed by the presence of a weakly interacting solvent like cyclohexane. These condensed phase studies are then extended to an ether analogue of phenol (allyl phenyl ether), wherein UV photo-induced RO-allyl bond fission constitutes the first step of a photo-Claisen rearrangement.

CO recombination kinetics has been investigated in the type II truncated hemoglobin from Thermobifida fusca (Tf-trHb) over more than 10 time decades (from 1 ps to 100 ms) by combining femtosecond transient absorption, nanosecond laser flash photolysis and optoacoustic spectroscopy. Photolysis is followed by a rapid geminate recombination with a time constant of 2 ns representing almost 60% of the overall reaction. An additional, small amplitude geminate recombination was identified at 100 ns. Finally, CO pressure dependent measurements brought out the presence of two transient species in the second order rebinding phase, with time constants ranging from 3 to 100 ms. The available experimental evidence suggests that the two transients are due to the presence of two conformations which do not interconvert within the time frame of the experiment. Computational studies revealed that the plasticity of protein structure is able to define a branched pathway connecting the ligand binding site and the solvent. This allowed to build a kinetic model capable of describing the complete time course of the CO rebinding kinetics to Tf-trHb. Fil: Marcelli, Agnese. European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy; Italia Fil: Abbruzzetti, Stefania. Università di Parma; Italia Fil: Bustamante, Juan Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química, Física de los Materiales, Medioambiente y Energía. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química, Física de los Materiales, Medioambiente y Energía; Argentina Fil: Feis, Alessandro. University of Florence; Italia Fil: Bonamore, Alessandra. Università degli studi di Roma "La Sapienza"; Italia Fil: Boffi, Alberto. Università degli studi di Roma "La Sapienza"; Italia Fil: Gellini, Cristina. University of Florence; Italia Fil: Salvi, Pier R.. University of Florence; Italia Fil: Estrin, Dario Ariel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química, Física de los Materiales, Medioambiente y Energía. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química, Física de los Materiales, Medioambiente y Energía; Argentina Fil: Bruno, Stefano. Università di Parma; Italia Fil: Viappiani, Cristiano. Università di Parma; Italia Fil: Foggi, Paolo. European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy; Italia. University of Perugia; Italia

We report on vibrational dynamics of water near the surface of AOT reverse micelles studied by narrow-band excitation, mid-IR pump-probe spectroscopy. Evidence of OH-stretch frequency splitting into the symmetric and asymmetric modes is clearly observed for the interfacial H2O molecules. The polarization memory of interfacial waters is preserved over an exceptionally extended > 10 ps timescale which is a factor of 100 longer than in bulk water. These observations point towards negligibly small intermolecular vibrational coupling between the water molecules as well as strongly reduced water rotational mobility within the interfacial water layer.

The active site of the oxygen-avid truncated hemoglobin from Bacillus subtilis has been characterized by infrared absorption and resonance Raman spectroscopies, and the dynamics of CO rebinding after photolysis has been investigated by picosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. Resonance Raman experiments on the CO bound adduct revealed the presence of two Fe-CO stretching bands at 545 and 520 cm(-1), respectively. Accordingly, two C-O stretching bands at 1924 and 1888 cm(-1) were observed in infrared absorption and resonance Raman measurements. The very low C-O stretching frequency at 1888 cm(-1) (corresponding to the extremely high RR stretching frequency at 545 cm(-1)) indicates unusually strong hydrogen bonding between CO and distal residues. On the basis of a comparison with. other truncated hemoglobin it is envisaged that the two CO conformers are determined by specific interactions with the TrpG8 and TyrB10 residues. Mutation of TrpG8 to Leu deeply alters the hydrogen-bonding network giving rise mainly to a CO conformer characterized by a Fe-CO stretching band at 489 cm(-1) and a CO stretching band at 1958 cm(-1). Picosecond laser photolysis experiments carried out on the CO bound adduct revealed dynamical processes that take place within a few nanoseconds after photolysis. Picosecond dynamics is largely dominated by CO geminate rebinding and is consistent with strong H-bonding contributions of TyrB10 and TrpG8 to ligand stabilization.

Femtosecond mid-IR spectroscopy is used to study the vibrational relaxation dynamics in neat liquid water. By exciting the bending vibration and probing the stretching mode, it is possible to reliably determine the bending and librational lifetimes of water. The anharmonic coupling between the bending and the stretching degrees of freedom is quantified in terms of a differential absorption cross-section for the fundamental stretching transition carrying one spectating bending quantum. A positive off-diagonal anharmonicity may be caused by the initial excitation of the anharmonic bending mode and is mediated by the hydrogen bonded network. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Multicolor infrared ultrafast spectroscopy is applied to investigate the vibrational relaxation dynamics in liquid water at room temperature with both the stretching and the bending mode being photoexcited and probed. A unified model, capable of the reproduction of as much as 150 transients, yielded cross-sections and relaxation times for the stretching and bending modes. It is demonstrated, that the energy from the initially excited stretching vibration is partitioned to the bending modes of approximately two water molecules.

The resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization, (1+1) REMPI and (2+2) REMPI S-1

Multicolor infrared ultrafast spectroscopy is applied to investigate the vibrational relaxation dynamics in liquid water at room temperature with both the stretching and the bending mode being photoexcited and probed. A unified model, capable of the reproduction of as much as 150 transients, yielded cross-sections and relaxation times for the stretching and bending modes. It is demonstrated, that the energy from the initially excited stretching vibration is partitioned to the bending modes of approximately two water molecules.

The one photon and the two photon S(1)

The ultrafast dynamics of water nano-droplets (1-10 nm size) of the L-2-phase of the ternary mixture H2O-AOT-CCI4 have been studied using frequency-resolved mid-infrared pump-probe spectroscopy in the spectral region of the OH-stretching vibration.

The ultrafast dynamics of water nano-droplets (1-10 nm size) of the L-2-phase of the ternary mixture H2O-AOT-CCI4 have been studied using frequency-resolved mid-infrared pump-probe spectroscopy in the spectral region of the OH-stretching vibration.

The ultrafast dynamics of water nano-droplets (1-10 nm size) of the L-2-phase of the ternary mixture H2O-AOT-CCI4 have been studied using frequency-resolved mid-infrared pump-probe spectroscopy in the spectral region of the OH-stretching vibration.

Ultracold collisions between spin-polarized Na atoms and vibrationally excited Na-2 molecules are investigated theoretically, using a reactive scattering formalism (including atom exchange). Calculations are carried out on both pairwise additive and nonadditive potential energy surfaces for the quartet electronic state. The Wigner threshold laws are followed for energies below 10(-5) K. Vibrational relaxation processes dominate elastic processes for temperatures below 10(-3)-10(-4) K. For temperatures below 10(-5) K, the rate coefficients for vibrational relaxation (v=1-->0) are 4.8x10(-11) and 5.2x10(-10) cm(3) s(-1) for the additive and nonadditive potentials, respectively. The large difference emphasizes the importance of using accurate potential energy surfaces for such calculations.

0021-9606; The shapes of the ν1 and 2ν2 isotropic Raman Q-branch of CO2 perturbed by argon and helium have been measured by Stimulated Raman Spectroscopy (SRS) or coherent anti-Stokes Raman Spectroscopy (CARS) techniques. The data have been successfully analyzed with an energy corrected sudden (ECS) approximation model based on basic rates determined independently. Finally comparison of the present data with time resolved double resonance experiments allows us to discuss the physical origin of the two empirical constants which account for the shift and broadening of the branch due to vibrational effects. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606(99)00344-X].

Two allylbenzene conformers have been identified using resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization spectroscopy (REMPI) in a supersonic jet expansion. Their existence has been confirmed by the vibrational analysis of the S-1

0026-8976; The Raman Q branch of N2 has been recorded at room temperature in the pressure range 150-6800 bar, which corresponds to densities from 135 to 800 amagat. In this domain, the Raman Q branch profile is mainly determined by the well-known collisional narrowing. The experimental data have been obtained by means of a high resolution stimulated Raman spectrometer. The linewidth and line shift of the band have been accurately measured as functions of the density, and their density dependences have been fitted by polynomials. The minimum of the linewidth and the maximum of the red shift have been clearly observed at respectively 735.8 and 532.3 amagat. The lineshape was found to be Lorentzian above 288 amagat with a linewidth inversely proportional to the density up to 670 amagat. This led to the determination of the rotational relaxation constant nτE = 0·160 ns amagat. Above 670 amagat, a nonlinear increase in the linewidth due to the increasing influence of the vibrational contribution has been observed. Fitting laws usually employed to model the relaxation matrix and thus to account for the collisional narrowing have been tested against our experimental spectra. The Schweizer-Chandler model has been also applied to reproduce the density dependences of the Raman linewidth and line shift at high density.

We discuss our recently reported femtosecond (fs) X-ray emission spectroscopy results on the ligand dissociation and recombination in nitrosylmyoglobin (MbNO) in the context of previous studies on ferrous haem proteins. We also present a preliminary account of femtosecond X-ray absorption studies on MbNO, pointing to the presence of more than one species formed upon photolysis.