| dc.description.abstract | Investigating the underlying forces that have a key role in light-matter
interactions is crucial to understanding many fundamental processes that occur in
nature. This thesis describes a series of experiments investigating model biological
chromophores, providing an insight into the photochemistry of “ultraviolet selfprotection”
schemes, invoked in many molecules involved in the protection of flora and
fauna from the potentially damaging effects of excess ultraviolet radiation. These
experiments are achieved through the application of time-resolved photoelectron
imaging (TR-PEI) supported by high-level computational chemistry calculations. This
thesis will set out both the motivation for the work, consisting of a comprehensive
literature review of the subject, as well as an in-depth description of the optical set-up,
laser system and spectrometer, as well as non-trivial data handling approaches involved
in performing the experiments. This will lead on to work concerning the model
chromophore aniline (and several aniline derived systems), guaiacol and finally a series
of tertiary aliphatic amines. To conclude, various potential avenues of future work are
discussed, considering both the experimental methodology and possible molecules of
interest building upon the work described within this thesis. | en_US |
