Assistant Professor

B.S. ('94), National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Ph.D. (2000) Ohio State University
Postdoctoral Fellow ('00-03) Johns Hopkins University

OFFICE
Beury Hall 242

MAILING ADDRESS
Department of Chemistry
Beury Hall 130
1901 N. 13th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19122

PHONE
office: 215-204-7703
fax: 215-204-0478
lab: 215-204-2102

E-MAIL
smatsika@temple.edu

RESEARCH GROUP http://astro.temple.edu/~smatsika/

Computational / Photonics / Physical

Research Interests

Most chemical processes follow the Born-Oppenheimer (adiabatic) approximation, in which the nuclei move on a single electronic potential energy surface (PES). However there are important processes where this approximation breaks down. These nonadiabatic events play an important role in essential processes in nature such as photosynthesis, vision, charge transfer and photochemistry. Nonadiabatic processes are facilitated by the close proximity of two PESs and the efficiency increases in the extreme case when two PESs become degenerate forming conical intersections. Theoretical developments have enabled the efficient study of conical intersections in small systems. The focus of our group is to extend these studies to more complicated systems, particularly of biological interest, in an effort to understand the underlying mechanisms of photoinitiated nonadiabatic processes and their potential implications. 

Nonadiabatic processes are closely related to the processes involved in  laser control of chemical reactions. In collaboration with experimentalists we aim at understanding the underlying mechanisms involved in laser control of basic chemical reactions, such as fragmentation and isomerization.  Theory is used to interpret and guide the control.

?Projects that we are working on involve:

• Photophysics and photochemistry of biologically relevant systems, such as DNA/RNA bases

Theoretical description of conical intersections and three-state conical intersections

QM/MM methods for excited states

Electronic structure methods for excited states

Understanding laser control of molecular dynamics

Selected Publications

S. Matsika, "Two- and three-state conical intersections in the uracil cation". Chemical Physics. 349, 356-362, (2008).

KA. Kistler, S. Matsika, "Three-state conical intersections in cytosine and pyrimidinone bases". Journal of Chemical Physics. 128, 215102, (2008).

A. Yoshikawa, S. Matsika, "Excited electronic states and photophysics of uracil-water complexes". Chemical Physics. 347, 393-404, (2008).

C. Trallero, BJ. Pearson, T. Weinacht, S. Matsika, "Interpreting ultrafast molecular fragmentation dynamics with ab initio electronic structure calculations". Journal of Chemical Physics. 128, 124107, (2008).

D. Laikov, S. Matsika, "Inclusion of second-order correlation effects for the ground and singly-excited states suitable for the study of conical intersections: the CIS(2) model". Chemical Physics Letters. 448, 132-137, (2007).

KA. Kistler, S. Matsika, "The fluorescence mechanism of 5-methyl-2-pyrimidinone: An ab initio study of a fluorescent pyrimidine analog". Photochemistry and Photobiology. 83, 611-624, (2007).

KA. Kistler, S. Matsika, "Radiationless decay mechanism of cytosine: An ab initio study with comparisons to the fluorescent analogue 5-methyl-2-pyrimidinone". Journal of Physical Chemistry A. 111, 2650-2661, (2007).

KA. Kistler, S. Matsika, "Cytosine in context: A theoretical study of substituent effects on the excitation energies of 2-pyrimidinone derivatives". Journal of Physical Chemistry A. 111, 8708-8716, (2007).

S. Matsika, "Conical Intersections in Molecular Systems". Rev. Comp. Chem. 23, 83, (2007).

Xu ZR, S. Matsika, "Combined Multireference Configuration Interaction/Molecular Dynamics Approach for Calculating Solvatochromic Shifts: Application to the n(0)- pi* Electronic Transition of Formaldehyde". Journal of Physical Chemistry A 110 (43): 12035-12043 (2006).

S. Matsika, "Three-State Conical Intersections in Nucleic Acid Bases". Journal of Physical Chemistry A 109 (33): 7538-7545 (2005).

Elliott R.; Compton R.; Levis R.; Matsika S. "Excited electronic states of the cyclic isomers of O-3 and SO2". Journal of Physical Chemistry A 109 (49): 11304-11311 (2005).

S. Matsika, "Radiationless Decay of Excited States of Uracil through Conical Intersections", J. Phys. Chem. A. (2004), 108, 7584-7590.