Symmetry Breaking around Aqueous Ammonia Revealed in Nitrogen K-edge X-ray Absorption

IF 4.8 2区化学 Q2 CHEMISTRY, PHYSICAL

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters Pub Date : 2025-03-27 DOI:10.1021/acs.jpclett.4c03625

Michael Odelius, Sarai Dery Folkestad, Thanit Saisopa, Yuttakarn Rattanachai, Wutthigrai Sailuam, Hayato Yuzawa, Nobuhiro Kosugi, Alexander C. Paul, Henrik Koch, Denis Céolin

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Abstract

Nitrogen K-edge X-ray absorption (XA) spectroscopy of aqueous ammonia reveals a splitting in the main-edge, which through theoretical modeling is shown to be related to symmetry breaking in hydrogen bonding. The XA main-edge of NH₃ is formed by a pair of degenerate core-excitations into extended molecular orbitals. In aqueous solution, these form an antibonding mixture with orbitals of the surrounding water molecules. Although the spectral response to distortions is complex, we show that the degeneracy of the core-excitations is lifted by asymmetry in hydrogen bond donation (NH···O). A quantitative relation between asymmetry in the hydration shell and splitting in the main-edge of the nitrogen K-edge XA spectrum is established from systematic symmetry breaking in well-defined cluster models and through molecular dynamics sampling of simulated XA spectra of aqueous ammonia. The finding indicates that XA spectroscopy is a sensitive probe of asymmetry in solvation also around functional groups in biomolecules.

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来源期刊

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters CHEMISTRY, PHYSICAL-NANOSCIENCE & NANOTECHNOLOGY

CiteScore

9.60

自引率

7.00%

发文量

1519

审稿时长

1.6 months

期刊介绍： The Journal of Physical Chemistry (JPC) Letters is devoted to reporting new and original experimental and theoretical basic research of interest to physical chemists, biophysical chemists, chemical physicists, physicists, material scientists, and engineers. An important criterion for acceptance is that the paper reports a significant scientific advance and/or physical insight such that rapid publication is essential. Two issues of JPC Letters are published each month.