The spectroscopic characterization, photochromism of cadmium(II)-iodo complexes of 1-alkyl-2-(arylazo)imidazoles and DFT computation of representative complexes

Molecular structure and vibrational and chemical shift assignments of 3'-chloro-4-dimethylamino azobenzene by DFT calculations

In the present work, a combined experimental and theoretical study on ground state molecular structure, spectroscopic and nonlinear optical properties of azo compound 3'-chloro-4-dimethlamino azobenzene are reported. The molecular geometry, vibrational wavenumbers and the first order hyperpolarizability of the title compound were calculated with the help of density functional theory computations. The optimized geometric parameters obtained by using DFT (B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p)) show good agreement with the experimental data. The vibrational transitions were identified based on the recorded FT-IR spectra in the range of 4000-400cm(-1) for solid state. The (1)H isotropic chemical shifts with respect to TMS were also calculated using the gauge independent atomic orbital (GIAO) method and compared with the experimental data. Using the TD-DFT method, electronic absorption spectra of the title compound have been predicted, and good agreement is determined with the experimental ones. To investigate the NLO properties of the title compound, the polarizability and the first hyperpolarizability were calculated using the density functional B3LYP method with the 6-311++G(d,p) basis set. According to results, the title compound exhibits non-zero first hyperpolarizability value revealing second order NLO behavior. In addition, DFT calculations of the title compound, molecular electrostatic potential and frontier molecular orbitals were also performed at 6-311++G(d,p) level of theory.

The structure and photophysics of di-iodo-zinc(II) complexes of long alkyl chain substituted imidazolyl motif of arylazoimidazoles and the DFT computation

Distorted tetrahedral structure of [Zn(Haai-C10H21)2I2] (Haai-C10H21, 1-decayl-2-(arylazo)imidazole) has been supported by single crystal X-ray diffraction study. The structures of other complexes, [Zn(Raai-CnH2n+1)2I2] (n=10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22) have been determined by spectroscopic data (FT-IR, UV-vis, (1)H NMR). The complexes show light induced photoisomerisation, E-to-Z (trans-to-cis) of coordinated, Raai-CnH2n+1. The Z-to-E (cis-to-trans) isomerisation is also carried out by thermal activation route. The quantum yields of the E→Z progression (ϕE→Z) of the complexes are less than that of free ligand, which could be due to increase in molar mass and molar volume of the complexes than that of free ligands. The activation energy (Ea) of Z→E isomerisation of the complexes is is less than that of free ligands. This observation is also consistent with femtosecond transient absorption results which suggests that the E(trans)→Z(cis) isomerization occurs through the motion of pendant NNAr of the molecule. The temporal profiles of free ligand shows three decay processes corresponds to 0.24ps (S2 state) and subsequent decay, 0.85ps of the S1 state and finally 5ps to the hot ground state at 500nm. The complexes also show three decay periods approximately at 0.25ps, 1.3ps and 13ps. The spectral property and photochromic efficiency have been explained by DFT computation of optimized geometry of the complexes.