The iconic helical structure of DNA is stabilized by the solvation environment, where a change in the hydration state can lead to dramatic changes to the DNA structure. X-ray diffraction experiments at cryogenic temperatures have shown crystallographic water molecules in the minor groove of DNA, which has led to the notion of a spine of hydration of DNA. Here, chiral nonlinear vibrational spectroscopy of two DNA sequences shows that not only do such structural water molecules exist in solution at ambient conditions but that they form a chiral superstructure: a chiral spine of hydration. This is the first observation of a chiral water superstructure templated by a biomolecule. While the biological relevance of a chiral spine of hydration is unknown, the method provides a direct way to interrogate the properties of the hydration environment of DNA and water in biological settings without the use of labels.

Molecular monolayers exhibit structural and dynamical properties that are different from their bulk counterparts due to their interaction with the substrate. Extracting these distinct properties is crucial for a better understanding of processes such as heterogeneous catalysis and interfacial charge transfer. Ultrafast nonlinear spectroscopic techniques such as 2D infrared (2D IR) spectroscopy are powerful tools for understanding molecular dynamics in complex bulk systems. Here, we build on technical advancements in 2D IR and heterodyne-detected sum frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy to study a CO2 reduction catalyst on nanostructured TiO2 with interferometric 2D SFG spectroscopy. Our method combines phase-stable heterodyne detection employing an external local oscillator with a broad-band pump pulse pair to provide the first high spectral and temporal resolution 2D SFG spectra of a transparent material. We determine the overall molecular orientation of the catalyst and find that there is a static structural heterogeneity reflective of different local environments at the surface.

The flexibility of the hydrogen-bonded network of water is the basis for its excellent solvation properties. Accordingly, it is valuable to understand the properties of water in the solvation shell surrounding small molecules and biomolecules. Recent high-quality Raman spectra analyzed with Self-Modeling Curve Resolution (SMCR) have provided Raman spectra of small-molecule solvation shells. Here we apply SMCR to the complementary technique of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy in the attenuated total reflection (ATR) configuration to extract the IR spectra of solvation shells. We first illustrate the method by obtaining the IR-MCR solvation shell spectra of tert-butanol (TBA), before applying it to antifreeze protein type III. Our results show that IR-SMCR spectroscopy is a powerful method for studying the solvation shell structure of small molecules and biomolecules. Given the wide availability of FTIR-ATR instruments, the method could prove to be an impactful tool for studying solvation and solvent-mediated interactions.

Strongly hydrogen-bonded motifs provide structural stability and can act as proton transfer relays to drive chemical processes in biological and chemical systems. However, structures with medium and strong hydrogen bonds are difficult to study due to their characteristically broad vibrational bands and large anharmonicity. This is further complicated by strong interactions between the high-frequency hydrogen-bonded vibrational modes, fingerprint modes, and low-frequency intradimer modes that modulate the hydrogen-bonding. Understanding these structures and their associated dynamics requires studying much of the vibrational spectrum. Here, mid-IR continuum spectroscopy of the cyclic 7-azaindole–acetic acid (7AI–AcOH) heterodimer reveals the vibrational relaxation dynamics and couplings of this complex hydrogen-bonded system. Within this dimer, the NH bond of 7AI exhibits a band at 3250 cm–1 caused by a medium strength hydrogen bond, while the strongly hydrogen-bonded OH modes of acetic acid exhibit a broad double-peaked vibrational feature spanning 1750 to 2750 cm–1. Transient IR and 2D IR experiments were performed using three excitation frequencies, centered on the high-frequency OH and NH modes, and probed with a mid-IR continuum to measure the spectral response from 1000 to 3500 cm–1. While the NH stretch is observed to relax in 300 fs, the strongly hydrogen-bonded OH modes relax within the time resolution of the experiment (sub-100 fs). The difference in the strength of the hydrogen bonds is also reflected in the coupling pattern in the fingerprint region observed with 2D IR spectroscopy. Here the NH is strongly coupled to fingerprint modes involving the 7AI monomer, while the OH vibrations are strongly coupled to vibrational modes across the entire dimer. Together, the results show strong coupling and rapid energy transfer across the hydrogen-bonded interface and through the structure of the 7-azaindole–acetic acid heterodimer, highlighting the need to study the full vibrational spectrum for strongly hydrogen-bonded systems.

Catalytic interfaces involving surface-bound molecular catalysts often exhibit a large structural heterogeneity from uncontrolled variation in surface morphology. Conventional spectroscopic techniques typically average over these different structural motifs within the sample, making it difficult to link the underlying surface morphology to the properties of the immobilized catalyst. Here we present the first direct comparison of the vibrational dynamics of a CO2 reduction catalyst bound to two different single-crystalline TiO2 surfaces, rutile (001) and (110), probed with transient surface-specific sum-frequency generation spectroscopy. We find that the change in surface structure between crystallographic faces alters both the vibrational frequency and relaxation time of the symmetric carbonyl stretching mode of the catalyst, with (001) displaying a lower frequency and longer relaxation time. This results from a change in the catalyst electronic structure and indicates that the molecular properties of the catalyst, likely including the catalytic properties, depend on the specific TiO2 surface to which it is bound. The comparison of the molecular properties on these two single crystal surfaces is an essential step toward understanding how semiconductor surface structure influences catalyst behavior and identifying optimal surface structures for improved catalytic performance.

Vibrational sum-frequency generation spectroscopy (SFG) is a powerful tool for studying noncentrosymmetric environments, particularly interfaces. Conventional homodyne-detected SFG inherently detects the intensity of the emitted light and thus forfeits the ability to directly measure the complex components, that is, phase, of the second-order nonlinear susceptibility, which contains the molecular response of interest. Heterodyne-detected SFG (HD-SFG) has recently been employed to recover this lost information, but has not been broadly adopted due to restrictions in the technical implementation. Presented in this Article is a HD-SFG geometry that fills a need for ease of use and increased versatility; our flexible and convenient design provides the capability to probe any interface in any polarization combination with exceptional phase stability. We demonstrate this ability by collecting the SFG signal from an octadecyltrichlorosilane monolayer on the front of a solid fused silica substrate and determine, for the first time with broadband HD-SFG, the complex spectrum of buried dry and solvated interfaces, collected in both ppp and ssp polarization combinations. This experimental design does not display any appreciable phase shift for over 10 h, which is a necessity for inclusion in more advanced methods such as time-resolved HD-SFG and 2D-HD-SFG.

Chiral sum frequency generation spectroscopy (SFG) is of great interest for studying biological systems, among others. Whereas the chiral response in circular dichroism is about 0.1% of the achiral response, the chiral SFG response can be the same order of magnitude as the achiral SFG signal. However, chiral SFG is limited by the attainable signal-to-noise of the weak nonlinear signals and therefore extremely sensitive to proper alignment. We present a robust method for chiral SFG and demonstrate the use on solid–air surfaces with achiral and chiral molecules. We simultaneously measure two orthogonal polarizations—either the interference chiral SFG (±45° polarized) or the pure chiral and achiral SFG—using a waveplate and beam displacer. Both optics are placed in the detection arm and can be easily incorporated into any SFG setup. Furthermore, we employ self-referencing to calibrate alignment for each sample individually using a polarizer in the detection arm. These methods greatly increase the reliability and quality of chiral SFG measurements.

Functionalizing the surface of metal and oxide materials with self-assembled monolayers is an elegant method for tuning the chemical properties of the surfaces. The properties of a coated surface depend on both the chemical nature of the termination as well as the order of the monolayer. One commonly used platform is alkylsilanes on silica surfaces. Here we characterize the disorder of self-assembled monolayers having a mixture of two monomer lengths using sum-frequency generation (SFG) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. We find that mixed monolayer order varies smoothly as a function of composition. The mixed monolayers are more disordered than either pure monolayer, and of the pure monolayers, the shorter monolayer is more disordered. The nonlinear relationship between monolayer disorder and composition, along with atomic force microscopy images, suggests completely homogeneous mixing or very small domains of the monomers. The order of the monolayers as determined by SFG spectroscopy does not depend on whether the monolayer is in contact with air or water.

Cyclic hydrogen-bonded structures are common motifs in biological systems, providing structural stability and mediating proton transfer for redox reactions. The mechanism of proton transfer across hydrogen-bonded interfaces depends on the strength of the intermolecular coupling between bridging OH/NH vibrational modes. Here we present a novel ultrafast continuum mid-IR spectroscopy experiment to study the vibrational dynamics of the 7-azaindole–acetic acid (7AI-Ac) heterodimer as a model system for asymmetric cyclic hydrogen-bonded structures. In addition to spreading of the excitation across the whole OH band within the time resolution of the experiment, excitation of a 300 cm–1 region of the ∼1000 cm–1 broad OH stretching mode of the acetic acid monomer leads to a frequency shift in the NH stretching mode of the 7AI monomer. This indicates that the NH and OH stretching modes located on the two monomers are strongly coupled despite being separated by 750 cm–1. The strong coupling further causes the OH and NH bands to decay with a common decay time of ∼2.5 ps. This intermolecular coupling is mediated through the hydrogen-bonded structure of the 7AI-Ac heterodimer and is likely a general property of cyclic hydrogen-bonded structures. Characterizing the vibrational dynamics of and the coupling between the high-frequency OH/NH modes will be important for understanding proton transfer across such molecular interfaces.