Ultrafast light-induced dynamics in the microsolvated biomolecular indole chromophore with water

TL;DR

This study employs advanced experimental techniques to investigate ultrafast light-induced dynamics in microsolvated indole-water clusters, revealing detailed reaction pathways and product formation following UV excitation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel combination of electrostatic deflection and pump-probe imaging to study specific microsolvated biomolecular systems with high selectivity.

Findings

Identified time-resolved formation of reaction products

Disentangled ultrafast processes in indole-water clusters

Demonstrated selective analysis of microsolvated biomolecules

Abstract

Interactions between proteins and their solvent environment can be studied in a bottom-up approach using hydrogen-bonded chromophore-solvent clusters. The ultrafast dynamics following UV-light-induced electronic excitation of the chromophores, potential radiation damage, and their dependence on solvation are important open questions. The microsolvation effect is challenging to study due to the inherent mix of the produced gas-phase aggregates. We use the electrostatic deflector to spatially separate different molecular species in combination with pump-probe velocity-map-imaging experiments. We demonstrate that this powerful experimental approach reveals intimate details of the UV-induced dynamics in the near-UV-absorbing prototypical biomolecular indole-water system. We determine the time-dependent appearance of the different reaction products and disentangle the occurring ultrafast processes. This approach ensures that the reactants are well-known and that detailed characteristics of the specific reaction products are accessible -- paving the way for the complete chemical-reactivity experiment.