NMR spectroscopy with in situ irradiation as a powerful tool to study photochemical processes
David Šaman Group
Abstract
Light-sensitive small organic molecules are in the focus of interest not only in physical organic chemistry and material science but also in molecular biology. Photochromic compounds reversibly change their structure and properties upon irradiation, which makes them ideal candidates for incorporation into photo-responsive “smart” materials, widely used in optoelectronics, catalysis or optogenetics. Photosensitive moieties can also work as a cap for photo-triggering of more complexed processes (e.g. catalysis, complexation, self-immolation, etc.). Photochemical processes can be investigated by conventional NMR spectroscopy (with ex situ irradiation) only if the half-life time is long enough or the species can be isolated. But the investigation of compounds that not fulfill these criteria is challenging. For these purposes, a special illumination device, where the light is guided directly into the NMR spectrometer by an optical fiber, has been introduced and recently implemented at IOCB. This setup enables monitoring of structural changes upon irradiation in real-time and variable temperatures, observation of saturation and stationary states of photochromic systems, structure determination of metastable species and access to kinetic data by subsequent analysis.
Field of study: Physical chemistry
Universities
PhD students must be enrolled in a partner university and will be employed by the IOCB Prague at the same time (part-time or full time), which results in a competitive salary (a scholarship from the university + a salary from the IOCB). Each university has its own process, terms, and deadlines for PhD applications, which is separate from the IOCB recruitment process. You may discuss the details with the respective PI.
University partners
How to apply
Please return to the PhD projects at IOCB Prague – Call for Applications 2020 page and follow the instructions.