Prof Steve Bradforth (University of Southern California) and Tom have been jointly awarded one of eight Inaugural Benjamin Meaker annual awards by the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of Bristol. This annual award will allow for exchanges between the Oliver and Bradforth groups to develop stronger research links between their groups, focussing on the photophysical investigations of earth abundant photocatalysts.

Congratulations to Camilla and Caleb for the publication of their 2DES paper. The article was selected to feature on the front cover of the latest issue of the Journal of Physical Chemistry A. The paper details our novel two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy experiment, which couples ultrashort time resolution (< 8 fs) and ultrabroadband (500-750 nm) wavelength resolution. Through the innovation of wavelength-dependent reference detection, we have greatly increased the sensitivity of the technique allowing for the study of samples at far lower concentrations than usual.

After a tour of Oceania, Camilla has rejoined the group as a post-doc working on the BBSRC funded sLoLa Circuits of Life project. She will utilise the world-class 2D electronic spectroscopy experiment she constructed as a PhD student to explore pigment-protein coupling in de novo heme containing proteins.

Congratulations to Camilla and Caleb of the acceptance of their two electronic spectroscopy (2DES) paper in the Journal of Physical Chemistry A! The paper details the coupling of an ultrabroadband laser source generated with a hollow-core fibre, compressed to 8 fs pulse duration, with a boxcars 2DES interferometer constructed from only conventional optics. The resulting ultra-broad bandwidth and high temporal resolution allow for superior spectral coverage of the typically broad molecular line shapes in the near-IR/visible region in room temperature solutions and the exploration of the excited state dynamics at the earliest time epoch in complex systems. For the first time in a degenerate broadband 2DES experiment, we demonstrate the implementation of full-wavelength reference detection to correct for wavelength-dependent laser intensity fluctuations. The net result is a 4–5x increased signal-to-noise, allowing for highly sensitive 2DES measurements, and the exploration of molecular vibronic transitions in a model system. This new platform paves the way for highly sensitive measurements of precious samples at lower than usual concentrations. The article is available to read online.

Congratulations to Meiyue Liu for winning a poster prize at the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Annual Spectroscopy and Dynamics Group Meeting in January 2025! Her poster was entitled Time-Resolved Electronic and Vibrational Probes of Riboflavin Excited State Dynamics in Solution

Congratulations to Rokas on the acceptance of his paper, “Confinement and Catalysis Within De Novo Designed Peptide Barrels,“ in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The work was part of a joint study with Dek Woolfson.

The paper showcases the potential of α-helical barrel (αHB) peptide assemblies as versatile molecular tools to act as “molecular flasks.” The αHBs can selectively bind small molecule fluorophores such as Diphenylhexatriene or Nile Red within the hydrophobic lumen in specific orientations in close proximity to facilitate very rapid and efficient FRET. Additionally, the same barrels bind two anthracene molecules and catalyse photodimerisation reactions, underscoring their potential in complex chemical reactions.

Notably, the work illustrates the importance of protein design, as not all ternary complexes were productive at FRET or photocataylsis.

The article is available to read here, and has been highlighted by an article in the American Peptide Society.

Congratulations to Camilla for having her 1st first author accepted for publication in the Journal of Physical Chemistry B on the photophysics of bioimaging dye Nile Red. The origin of Nile Red’s fluorescence has been disputed for decades, with some studies claiming that the dye fluoresces from two excited states, and/or the main emissive state is twisted and intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT) in character, as opposed to planar ICT (PICT). Using an arsenal of experimental and theoretical methods, we definitively prove that molecule’s fluorescence originates from a PICT state. The article is available to read here.

Welcome to Sam Arrowsmith who joins us as a new PhD student in the group. Sam graduated from Oxford in 2024. In his final year MChem project, he worked with Prof. Claire Vallance on Coloumb explosion imaging of gas phase molecules.

Well done to Hilary McCarthy who passed her PhD viva voce exam yesterday afternoon. Hilary was jointly supervised by Heather Whitney, Carmen Galan and Tom. Her thesis focused on the effect of carbon nanodots on the photosynthesis of micro algae, and photonic effects in chloroplasts of shade plants. Her PhD was his highly multidisciplinary, coupling ultrafast fluorescence spectroscopy, microscopy, synthetic chemistry and biology!

Since submitting her thesis, Hilary has been part of innovate UK’s ICURe programme, which she has just recently secured follow on funding for.