USC.edu

Stephen Bradforth

Professor of Chemistry and Senior Advisor to the Dean for Research Strategy and Development
Stephen Bradforth
Pronouns He / Him / His Email stephen.bradforth@usc.edu Office SSC 726 Office Phone (213) 740-0461

Education

  • Ph.D. Physical Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, 1/1992
  • M.A. Natural Sciences, Cambridge University, 1/1987
    • Postdoctoral Associate, University of Chicago, 02/01/1993-07/31/1996

  • Tenure Track Appointments

    • Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, 04/01/2008 –
    • Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, 05/01/2002 – 03/31/2008
    • Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, 08/01/1996 – 05/01/2002

  • Summary Statement of Research Interests

    The research in the Bradforth group centers on understanding the ultrafast dynamics of chemical reactions in solution and in complex condensed phase systems such as nucleic Acids and polymers. The common strand in our experiments is to explore the coupling of reactive transformations to the dynamics of the environment. The time scales for reactive processes such as bond breaking or non-adiabatic transformations are on the order of 100 fs; likewise the timescales of solvent or other surrounding motions are 10 fs – 1 ps. In a condensed environment, this allows only a short time window to explore the system evolution and catch the newly-formed products before complete relaxation. Femtosecond spectroscopy is therefore the appropriate experimental technique to elucidate the dynamics. Systems of interest extend from ionic solutes in water, radiation chemistry of pure water and aqueous systems, solar energy harvesting and conversion, and the mechanisms of deactivation and damage of DNA after UV exposure .

    Research Keywords

    Ultrafast dynamics of chemical reactions in solution, photodetachment and photodissociation, light harvesting and solar energy conversion systems, mechanisms of DNA UV photodamage, photoionization and dosimetry

  • Journal Article

    • Zhang, Y., Oliver, T. A., Ashfold, M. N., Bradforth, S. E. Contrasting the excited state reaction pathways of phenol and para-methylthiophenol in the gas and liquid phases. pp. submitted.Faraday Discussions. Vol. 157,
    • Whited, M. T., Patel, N. M., Roberts, S. T., Allen, K., Djurovich, P. I., Bradforth, S. E., Thompson, M. E. (2012). Symmetry-Breaking Intramolecular Charge Transfer in the Excited State of meso-Linked BODIPY Dyads. pp. 284-286.Chemical Communications. Vol. 48,
    • Roberts, S. T., McAnally, R. E., Mastron, J. N., Webber, D. H., Whited, M. T., Brutchey, R. L., Thompson, M. E., Bradforth, S. E. Efficient Singlet Fission Discovered in a Disordered Acene Film. pp. submitted.Journal of the American Chemical Society.
    • Nadeau, J. L., Carlini, L., Suffern, D., Ivanova, O., Bradforth, S. E. (2012). Effects of beta-Mercaptoethanol on Quantum Dot Emission Evaluated from Photoluminescence Decays. pp. 2728???2739.Journal of Physical Chemistry C. Vol. 116,
    • Greaney, M., Das, S., Webber, D. H., Bradforth, S. E., Brutchey, R. L. Improving Open Circuit Potential in Hybrid P3HT:CdSe Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells via Colloidal tert-Butylthiol Ligand Exchange. pp. submitted.ACS Nano.
    • Ghosh, D., Roy, A., Seidel, R., Winter, B., Bradforth, S. E., Krylov, A. I. A first-principle protocol for calculating ionization energies and redox potentials of solvated molecules and ions: Theory and application to aqueous phenol and phenolate. pp. submitted.Journal of Physical Chemistry B.
    • Marsarlek, O., Frigato, T., VandeVondele, J., Bradforth, S. E., Schmidt, B., Schutte, C., Jungwirth, P. (2011). Hydrogen forms in water by proton transfer to a distorted electron. pp. 224510(1-14).Journal of Chemical Physics. Vol. 135,
    • Roberts, S. T., Schlenker, C. W., Barlier, V., McAnally, R. E., Zhang, Y., Mastron, J. N., Thompson, M. E., Bradforth, S. E. (2011). Observation of Triplet Exciton Formation in a Platinum-Sensitized Organic Photovoltaic Device. December 21, 2010 pp. 48-54.Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters/American Chemical Society. Vol. 2 (December 21, 2010),
    • Chen, X., Larsen, D. S., Bradforth, S. E., van Stokkum, I. H. (2011). Broadband spectral probing revealing ultrafast photochemical branching after ultraviolet excitation of the aqueous phenolate anion. January 4, 2011 pp. ASAP.Journal of Physical Chemistry A.
    • Thurmer, S., Seidel, R., Eberhardt, W., Bradforth, S. E., Winter, B. (2011). Ultrafast hybridization screening in Fe. 32July 14, 2011 pp. 12528 -12535.Journal of the American Chemical Society. Vol. 133 (32July 14, 2011),
    • Roberts, S. T., Schlenker, C. W., Barlier, V., McAnally, R. E., Zhang, Y., Mastron, J. N., Thompson, M. E., Bradforth, S. E. (2011). Observation of Triplet Exciton Formation in a Platinum-Sensitized Organic Photovoltaic Device. December 21, 2010 pp. 48-54.Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. Vol. 2 (December 21, 2010),
    • Rivera, C. A., Winter, N., Harper, R. V., Benjamin, I., Bradforth, S. E. (2011). The dynamical role of solvent on the ICN photodissociation reaction: connecting experimental observables directly with molecular dynamics simulations. pp. 8269-8283.Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics/The Royal Society of Chemistry. Vol. 13,
    • Pluharova, E., Jungwirth, P., Bradforth, S. E., Slavicek, P. (2011). Ionization of Purine Tautomers in Nucleobases, Nucleosides, and Nucleotides: From the Gas Phase to the Aqueous Environment. 5 pp. 1294-1305.Journal of Physical Chemistry B. Vol. 115 (5),
    • A. Oliver, T. A., Zhang, Y., R. Ashfold, M. N., Bradforth, S. E. (2011). Linking Photochemistry in the Gas and Solution Phase: S-H bond Fission in p-Methylthiophenol Following UV Photoexcitation. 1 pp. 439 – 458.Faraday Discussions. Vol. 150 (1),
    • Marsalek, O., Elles, C. G., Pieniazek, P. A., Pluha??ov??, E., VandeVondele, J., Bradforth, S. E., Jungwirth, P. (2011). Chasing charge localization and chemical reactivity following photoionization in liquid water. pp. 224510(1-14).Journal of Chemical Physics. Vol. 135,
    • Chen, X., Larsen, D. S., Bradforth, S. E., van Stokkum, I. H. (2011). Broadband spectral probing revealing ultrafast photochemical branching after ultraviolet excitation of the aqueous phenolate anion. January 4, 2011 pp. 3807-3819.Journal of Physical Chemistry A. Vol. 115 (January 4, 2011),
    • Bradforth, S. E. (2011). Tracking State-to-State Bimolecular Reaction Dynamics in Solution. 6023 pp. 1398-1399.Science. Vol. 331 (6023),
    • Besaratinia, A., Yoon, J., Schroeder, C., Cockburn, M., Bradforth, S. E., Pfeifer, G. P. (2011). Wavelength dependence of ultraviolet radiation-induced DNA damage as determined by near monochromatic laser irradiation suggests that cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers are the principal DNA lesions produced by terrestrial sunlight. pp. 3079-3091.FASEB Journal. Vol. 25,
    • Whited, M. T., Djurovich, P. I., Roberts, S. T., Durrell, A. C., Schlenker, C. W., Bradforth, S. E., Thompson, M. E. (2010). Singlet and Triplet Excitation Management in a Bichromophoric NIR-Phosphorescent BODIPY-Benzoporphyrin Platinum Complex. 1 pp. 88-96.Journal of the American Chemical Society. Vol. 133 (1),
    • Rivera, C. A., Bradforth, S. E., Tempea, G. (2010). Gires-Tournois interferometer type negative dispersion mirrors for deep ultraviolet pulse compression. 18 pp. 18615-18624.Optics Express/OSA. Vol. 18 (18),
    • Ottosson, N., Faubel, M., Bradforth, S. E., Jungwirth, P., Winter, B. (2010). Photoelectron spectroscopy of liquid water and aqueous solution: Electron effective attenuation lengths and emission-angle anisotropy. 2-3 pp. 60-70.Journal of Electron Spectroscopy and Related Phenomena. Vol. 177 (2-3),
    • Marsalek, O., Frigato, T., VandeVondele, J., Bradforth, S. E., Schmidt, B., Schutte, C., Jungwirth, P. (2010). Hydrogen forms in water by proton transfer to a distorted electron. pp. 915???920.Journal of Physical Chemistry B. Vol. 114,
    • Cooper, D., Dumas, E., Carlini, L., Gao, C., Suffern, D., Bradforth, S. E., Nadeau, J. L. (2010). Interfacial charge transfer between CdTe quantum dots and Gram negative vs. Gram positive bacteria. 4 pp. 1464-1470.Environmental Science and Technology. Vol. 44 (4),
    • Ottosson, N., Faubel, M., Bradforth, S. E., Jungwirth, P., Winter, B. (2009). Photoelectron spectroscopy of liquid water and aqueous solution: Electron effective attenuation lengths and emission-angle anisotropy. Journal of Electron Spectroscopy and Related Phenomena.
    • Fomina, N., Bradforth, S. E., Hogen-Esch, T. E. (2009). Synthesis and Spectroscopy of Poly(9,9-dihexylfluorene-2,7-diyl-co-9,9-dihexylfluorene-3,6-diyl)s and Their Model Oligomers. pp. 6440-6447.Macromolecules. Vol. 42,
    • Slavícek, P., Winter, B., Faubel, M., Bradforth, S. E., Jungwirth, P. (2009). Ionization energies of aqueous pyrimidine components of nucleic acids by photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio calculations. pp. 6460-6467.Journal of the American Chemical Society. Vol. 131,
    • Pieniazek, P. A., Sundstrom, E. J., Bradforth, S. E., Krylov, A. I. (2009). The degree of initial hole localization/delocalization in ionized water clusters. pp. 4423-4429.Journal of Physical Chemistry A. Vol. 113,
    • Cooper, D., Carlini, L., Clarke, S., Suffern, D., Parbhoo, R., Bradforth, S. E., Nadeau, J. (2009). Photoenhancement of Lifetimes in CdSe/ZnS and CdTe Quantum Dot-Dopamine Conjugates. pp. 4298-4310.Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. Vol. 11,
    • Elles, C. G., Rivera, C., Zhang, X., Pieniazek, P. A., Bradforth, S. E. (2009). Electronic structure of liquid water from polarization-dependent two-photon absorption spectroscopy. pp. 084501.Journal of Chemical Physics. Vol. 130,
    • Chen, X., Bradforth, S. E. (2008). The Ultrafast Dynamics of Photodetachment. pp. 203-231.Annual Review of Physical Chemistry. Vol. 59,
    • Elles, C. G., Shkrob, I., Crowell, R. A., Bradforth, S. E. (2007). Excited state dynamics of liquid water: Insight from the dissociation reaction following two-photon excitation. pp. 164503 (1-8).Journal of Chemical Physics. Vol. 126,
    • Moskun, A. C., Jailaubekov, A. E., Bradforth, S. E., Tao, G., Stratt, R. M. (2006). Rotational Coherence and a Sudden Breakdown in Linear Response Seen in Room-Temperature Liquids. pp. 1907-1911.Science. Vol. 311,
    • American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow, 2019
    • Dornsife Faculty Fellow, 2011-2012
    • David and Lucille Packard Foundation Fellowship in Science and Engineering, 1999-2004
    • Cottrell Scholar of the Research Corporation, 1999-2004
    • Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award, 1996-2001
    • USC Raubenheimer Outstanding Junior Faculty Award, 2000
    • Fulbright Award, 1987-1988

  • Editorships and Editorial Boards

    • Editorial Committee, Annual Reviews of Physical Chemistry”, 01/2012 – 12/2016
    • Editorial Board, Journal of Chemical Physics”, 2009 – 2011