Ultrafast 2D-IR and simulation investigations of preferential solvation and cosolvent exchange dynamics

Using a derivative of the vitamin biotin labeled with a transition-metal carbonyl vibrational probe in a series of aqueous N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) solutions, we observe a striking slowdown in spectral diffusion dynamics with decreased DMF concentration. Equilibrium solvation dynamics, measured with the rapidly acquired spectral diffusion (RASD) technique, a variant of heterodyne-detected photon-echo peak shift experiments, range from 1 ps in neat DMF to ∼3 ps in 0.07 mole fraction DMF/water solution. Molecular dynamics simulations of the biotin-metal carbonyl solute in explicit aqueous DMF solutions show marked preferential solvation by DMF, which becomes more pronounced at lower DMF concentrations. The simulations and the experimental data are consistent with an interpretation where the slowdown in spectral diffusion is due to solvent exchange involving distinct cosolvent species. A simple two-component model reproduces the observed spectral dynamics as well as the DMF concentration dependence, enabling the extraction of the solvent exchange time scale of 8 ps. This time scale corresponds to the diffusive motion of a few Å, consistent with a solvent-exchange mechanism. Unlike most previous studies of solvation dynamics in binary mixtures of polar solvents, our work highlights the ability of vibrational probes to sense solvent exchange as a new, slow component in the spectral diffusion dynamics.