title: Torsional Motion of the Chromophore Catechol following the Absorption of Ultraviolet Light.
abstract: The ability to probe energy flow in molecules, following the absorption of ultraviolet light, is crucial to unraveling photophysical phenomena. Here we excite a coherent superposition of vibrational states in the first excited electronic state (S1) in catechol, resulting in a vibrational wave packet. The observed quantum beats, assigned to superpositions of the low-frequency, and strongly mixed, O-H torsional mode τ2, elegantly demonstrate how changes in geometry upon photoionization from the S1 state to the ground state of the cation (D0) enables one to probe energy flow at the very early stages of photoexcitation in this biological chromophore.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Young
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Staniforth
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Paterson
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: V G
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Stavros