Femtochemistry : With the Nobel Lecture of A. Zewail

For decades now, chemists have been dreaming of observing exactly what happens at the molecular level during a chemical reaction. The breakthrough came at the end of the 80s with the development of special spectrometers that use extremely short-pulsed laser light and so enable measurements in the femtosecond range. Since then, "femtochemistry" has made rapid progress, due to intensive collaboration between physical chemists, spectroscopists, photochemists and physicists. The first-class contributions collected here from top international femtochemists provide a comprehensive insight into this area of interdisciplinary research. The range extends from femtochemistry in nanohollows to the investigation of the dynamics of biological reactions in the femtosecond range, from ab initio approaches to quantum chemical reaction controls to two-dimensional, nonlinear optical spectroscopy in liquids. This overview of the current level of research is rounded off with A. Zewail's Nobel prizewinning lecture. The vast amount of information and numerous references make this not only an ideal introduction to the research, but also recommended reading for everyone concerned with this hot topic. Content: Chapter 1 Femtochemistry: Atomic?Scale Dynamics of the Chemical Bond Using Ultrafast Lasers (Nobel Lecture) (pages 1–85): Ahmed H. Zewail Chapter 2 Transition State Theory and Reaction Dynamics – An Overview (pages 87–96): Ward H. Thompson, Philip M. Kiefer and James T. Hynes Chapter 3 Organic Femtochemistry: Diradicals, Theory and Experiments (pages 97–112): Steven De Feyter, Eric W.?G. Diau and Ahmed H. Zewail Chapter 4 The Coulomb Explosion Imaging Method and Excited–State Proton–Transfer Reactions (pages 113–131): Eric S. Wisniewski, Jason R. Stairs, Daniel E. Folmer and A. Welford Castleman Chapter 5 Femtosecond Dynamics at Conical Intersections (pages 133–145): Wolfgang Domcke Chapter 6 Femtosecond Spectroscopy of Molecular Caging: Quantum and Classical Approaches (pages 147–154): Vladimir A. Ermoshin, Volker Engel and Christoph Meier Chapter 7 Ultrafast Geometrical Relaxation in Polydiacetylene Induced by Sub?5?fs Pulses (pages 155–167): Takayoshi Kobayashi Chapter 8 Ultrafast Probing and Control of Molecular Dynamics: Beyond the Pump?Probe Method (pages 169–187): Marcos Dantus Chapter 9 Quantum Control of Ultrafast Laser?Driven Isomerization Reactions: Proton Transfer and Selective Preparation of Enantiomers (pages 189–198): Nadja Doslic, Yuichi Fujimura, Leticia Gonzalez, Kunihito Hoki, Dominik Kroner, Oliver Kuhn, Jorn Manz and Yukiyoshi Ohtsuki Chapter 10 Controlling the Vibration and Dissociation Dynamics in small Molecules and Clusters (pages 199–216): stefan Vajda and Ludger Woste Chapter 11 Two?Dimensional Optical Nonlinear Spectroscopy in Liquids (pages 217–223): Keisuke Tominaga and Hiroaki Maekawa Chapter 12 Femtosecond Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy and Photochemistry of Organic Microcrystals (pages 225–238): Hiroshi Masuhara, Tsuyoshi Asahi and Akihiro Furube Chapter 13 Impurity Rydberg States as Probes of Local Dynamics in the Condensed Phase (pages 239–252): Franco Vigliotti and Majed Chergui Chapter 14 Photoelectron Spectroscopy as a Probe for Investigating Chemical Dynamics (pages 253–265): Ingo Fischer Chapter 15 Femtochemistry in Nanocavities (pages 267–279): Abderrazzak Douhal Chapter 16 Energy? and Angle?Resolved Femtosecond Photoelectron Spectra from Rotating Molecules (pages 281–293): Yasuki Arasaki, Kazuo Takatsuka, Kwanghsi Wang and Vincent McKoy Chapter 17 Femtosecond Time?Resolved Fluorescence and Anisotropy Decay Spectroscopy of a Dendrimer with Eight Chromophores at the Rim (pages 295–306): Gerd Schweitzer, Gino De Belder, Sven Jordens, Marc Lor, Klaus Mullen, Andreas Herrmann and Frans C. De Schryver Chapter 18 Excited?State Dynamics of Conjugated Polymers and Oligomers (pages 307–321): Jean?Yves Bigot and Thierry Barisien Chapter 19 Excited?State Intramolecular Proton Transfer (ESIPT) and Energy Relaxation Processes in Hydroxyphenylbenzotriazole Derivatives: A Femtosecond Laser Study (pages 323–333): Thierry Fournier, Stanislas Pommeret, Jean?Claude Mialocq and Andre Deflandre Chapter 20 Direct Detection of the Charge?Shift Reaction in Aromatic Vinyl Polymers by means of Transient Absorption and Dichroism Measurements (pages 335–344): Hiroshi Miyasaka, Takao Moriyama, Sazzadur R. Khan and Akira Itaya Chapter 21 Femtosecond Chemical Events of Intramolecular Charge Transfer and Intermolecular Hydrogen Bond Breaking after Electronic Excitation: Structural Dynamics in the Condensed Phase (pages 345–365): Erik T. J. Nibbering and Jens Dreyer Chapter 22 Vibrational Coherence in Electron Donor–Acceptor Complexes: Assignment of the Oscillatory Mode (pages 367–380): Igor V. Rubtsov and Keitaro Yoshihara Chapter 23 Femtosecond Studies of the Initial Events in the Photocycle of Photoactive Yellow Protein (PYP) (pages 381–390): Matthew A. Horn, Julie A. Gruetzmacher, Jeongho Kim, Seung?Eng Choi, Spencer M. Anderson, Keith Moffat and Norbert F. Scherer Chapter 24 Elementary Reactions in the Condensed Phase: Bond Breaking, Isomerization and Electron Transfer (pages 391–398): Eva Akesson, Alexander N. Tarnovsky, Gabor Benko, Arkady Yartsev and Villy Sundstrom Chapter 25 Primary Process in Photosynthesis Studied by Femtosecond Nonlinear Spectroscopy (pages 399–416): Jante M. Salverda and Rienk van Grondelle Chapter 26 Femtosecond Studies of Intramolecular Bond Twisting in Solution (pages 417–430): Max Glasbeek, Hong Zhang, Pascale Changenet, Pascal Plaza, Monique M. Martin and Wolfgang Rettig The contributions collected here from expert femtochemists provide an insight into this area of interdisciplinary research. The range extends from femtochemistry in nanohollows to the investigation of the dynamics of biological reactions in the femtosecond range.