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Taylor JT, Tozer DJ, Curchod BFE. On the description of conical intersections between excited electronic states with LR-TDDFT and ADC(2). J Chem Phys 2023; 159:214115. [PMID: 38059547 DOI: 10.1063/5.0176140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2023] [Accepted: 11/14/2023] [Indexed: 12/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Conical intersections constitute the conceptual bedrock of our working understanding of ultrafast, nonadiabatic processes within photochemistry (and photophysics). Accurate calculation of potential energy surfaces within the vicinity of conical intersections, however, still poses a serious challenge to many popular electronic structure methods. Multiple works have reported on the deficiency of methods like linear-response time-dependent density functional theory within the adiabatic approximation (AA LR-TDDFT) or algebraic diagrammatic construction to second-order [ADC(2)]-approaches often used in excited-state molecular dynamics simulations-to describe conical intersections between the ground and excited electronic states. In the present study, we focus our attention on conical intersections between excited electronic states and probe the ability of AA LR-TDDFT and ADC(2) to describe their topology and topography, using protonated formaldimine and pyrazine as two exemplar molecules. We also take the opportunity to revisit the performance of these methods in describing conical intersections involving the ground electronic state in protonated formaldimine-highlighting in particular how the intersection ring exhibited by AA LR-TDDFT can be perceived either as a (near-to-linear) seam of intersection or two interpenetrating cones, depending on the magnitude of molecular distortions within the branching space.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jack T Taylor
- Department of Chemistry, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom
| | - David J Tozer
- Department of Chemistry, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom
| | - Basile F E Curchod
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, United Kingdom
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2
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Perrella F, Coppola F, Rega N, Petrone A. An Expedited Route to Optical and Electronic Properties at Finite Temperature via Unsupervised Learning. Molecules 2023; 28:molecules28083411. [PMID: 37110644 PMCID: PMC10144358 DOI: 10.3390/molecules28083411] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2023] [Revised: 04/06/2023] [Accepted: 04/07/2023] [Indexed: 04/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Electronic properties and absorption spectra are the grounds to investigate molecular electronic states and their interactions with the environment. Modeling and computations are required for the molecular understanding and design strategies of photo-active materials and sensors. However, the interpretation of such properties demands expensive computations and dealing with the interplay of electronic excited states with the conformational freedom of the chromophores in complex matrices (i.e., solvents, biomolecules, crystals) at finite temperature. Computational protocols combining time dependent density functional theory and ab initio molecular dynamics (MD) have become very powerful in this field, although they require still a large number of computations for a detailed reproduction of electronic properties, such as band shapes. Besides the ongoing research in more traditional computational chemistry fields, data analysis and machine learning methods have been increasingly employed as complementary approaches for efficient data exploration, prediction and model development, starting from the data resulting from MD simulations and electronic structure calculations. In this work, dataset reduction capabilities by unsupervised clustering techniques applied to MD trajectories are proposed and tested for the ab initio modeling of electronic absorption spectra of two challenging case studies: a non-covalent charge-transfer dimer and a ruthenium complex in solution at room temperature. The K-medoids clustering technique is applied and is proven to be able to reduce by ∼100 times the total cost of excited state calculations on an MD sampling with no loss in the accuracy and it also provides an easier understanding of the representative structures (medoids) to be analyzed on the molecular scale.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fulvio Perrella
- Scuola Superiore Meridionale, Largo San Marcellino 10, I-80138 Napoli, Italy
| | - Federico Coppola
- Scuola Superiore Meridionale, Largo San Marcellino 10, I-80138 Napoli, Italy
| | - Nadia Rega
- Scuola Superiore Meridionale, Largo San Marcellino 10, I-80138 Napoli, Italy
- Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Napoli Federico II, Complesso Universitario di M.S. Angelo, via Cintia 21, I-80126 Napoli, Italy
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Napoli, Complesso Universitario di M.S. Angelo ed. 6, via Cintia 21, I-80126 Napoli, Italy
| | - Alessio Petrone
- Scuola Superiore Meridionale, Largo San Marcellino 10, I-80138 Napoli, Italy
- Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Napoli Federico II, Complesso Universitario di M.S. Angelo, via Cintia 21, I-80126 Napoli, Italy
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Napoli, Complesso Universitario di M.S. Angelo ed. 6, via Cintia 21, I-80126 Napoli, Italy
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3
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Toldo JM, do Casal MT, Ventura E, do Monte SA, Barbatti M. Surface hopping modeling of charge and energy transfer in active environments. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2023; 25:8293-8316. [PMID: 36916738 PMCID: PMC10034598 DOI: 10.1039/d3cp00247k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/05/2023]
Abstract
An active environment is any atomic or molecular system changing a chromophore's nonadiabatic dynamics compared to the isolated molecule. The action of the environment on the chromophore occurs by changing the potential energy landscape and triggering new energy and charge flows unavailable in the vacuum. Surface hopping is a mixed quantum-classical approach whose extreme flexibility has made it the primary platform for implementing novel methodologies to investigate the nonadiabatic dynamics of a chromophore in active environments. This Perspective paper surveys the latest developments in the field, focusing on charge and energy transfer processes.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Elizete Ventura
- Departamento de Química, CCEN, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, 58059-900, João Pessoa, Brazil.
| | - Silmar A do Monte
- Departamento de Química, CCEN, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, 58059-900, João Pessoa, Brazil.
| | - Mario Barbatti
- Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, ICR, Marseille, France.
- Institut Universitaire de France, 75231, Paris, France
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4
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Li Y, Aquino AJA, Siddique F, Niehaus TA, Lischka H, Nachtigallová D. Pathways to fluorescence via restriction of intramolecular motion in substituted tetraphenylethylenes. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2022; 24:1722-1735. [PMID: 34984424 DOI: 10.1039/d1cp04848a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
The design of materials with enhanced luminescence properties is a fast-developing field due to the potential applicability of these materials as light-emitting diodes or for bioimaging. A transparent way to enhance the emission properties of interesting molecular candidates is blocking competing and unproductive non-radiative relaxation pathways by the restriction of intramolecular motions. Rationalized functionalization is an important possibility to achieve such restrictions. Using time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) based on the ωB97XD functional and the semiempirical tight-binding method including long-range corrections (TD-LC-DFTB), this work investigates the effect of functionalization of the paradigmatic tetraphenylethylene (TPE) on achieving restricted access to conical intersections (RACI). Photodynamical surface hopping simulations have been performed on a larger set of compounds including TPE and ten functionalized TPE compounds. Functionalization has been achieved by means of electron-withdrawing groups, bulky groups which block the relaxation channels via steric hindrance and groups capable of forming strong hydrogen bonds, which restrict the motion via the formation of hydrogen bond channels. Most of the investigated functionalized TPE candidates show ultrafast deactivation to the ground state due to their still existing structural flexibility, but two examples, one containing -CN and -CF3 groups and a second characterized by a network of hydrogen bonds, have been identified as interesting candidates for creating efficient luminescence properties in solution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yingchao Li
- School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, P. R. China.
| | - Adélia J A Aquino
- School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, P. R. China. .,Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, 79409, USA
| | - Farhan Siddique
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Bahauddin Zakariya University, 60800 Multan, Pakistan.,Royal Institute of Medical Sciences, Multan, Pakistan
| | - Thomas A Niehaus
- Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, Institut Lumière Matière, F-69622, Villeurbanne, France
| | - Hans Lischka
- School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, P. R. China. .,Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX 79409-1061, USA
| | - Dana Nachtigallová
- Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry v.v.i., The Czech Academy of Sciences, 16610 Prague 6, Czech Republic. .,IT4Innovations, VŠB-Technical University of Ostrava, 70800 Ostrava-Poruba, Czech Republic
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Shahrokh L, Omidyan R, Azimi G. Excited State Deactivation Mechanisms of Protonated Adenine: a Theoretical study. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2022; 24:14898-14908. [DOI: 10.1039/d2cp00106c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Quantum chemical computational method as well as the adiabatic dynamics simulation have been employed to investigate the non-radiative relaxation mechanism of protonated 9H- and 7H-adenine (AH+). We have located three...
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Bartkowski K, Zimmermann Crocomo P, Kochman MA, Kumar D, Kubas A, Data P, Lindner M. Tandem rigidification and π-extension as a key tool for the development of a narrow linewidth yellow hyperfluorescent OLED system. Chem Sci 2022; 13:10119-10128. [PMID: 36128243 PMCID: PMC9430727 DOI: 10.1039/d2sc03342a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2022] [Accepted: 07/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Hyperfluorescence (HF), a relatively new phenomenon utilizing the transfer of excitons between two luminophores, requires careful pairwise tuning of molecular energy levels and is proposed to be the crucial step towards the development of new, highly effective OLED systems. To date, barely few HF yellow emitters with desired narrowband emission but moderate external quantum efficiency (EQE < 20%) have been reported. This is because a systematic strategy embracing both Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) and triplet to singlet (TTS) transition as complementary mechanisms for effective exciton transfer has not yet been proposed. Herein, we present a rational approach, which allows, through subtle structural modification, a pair of compounds built from the same donor and acceptor subunits, but with varied communication between these ambipolar fragments, to be obtained. The TADF-active dopant is based on a naphthalimide scaffold linked to the nitrogen of a carbazole moiety, which through the introduction of an additional bond leads not only to π-cloud enlargement, but also rigidifies and inhibits the rotation of the donor. This structural change prevents TADF, and guides bandgaps and excited state energies to simultaneously pursue FRET and TTS processes. New OLED devices utilizing the presented emitters show excellent external quantum efficiency (up to 27%) and a narrow full width at half maximum (40 nm), which is a consequence of very good alignment of energy levels. The presented design principles prove that only a minor structural modification is needed to obtain commercially applicable dyes for HF OLED devices. The rigidification with simultaneous π-extension of TADF-active dye leads to fluorescent dopant with fine-tuned energy levels. These used as hyperfluorescent OLED device shows extraordinary EQE and brightness due to effective FRET and TTS processes.![]()
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Affiliation(s)
- Krzysztof Bartkowski
- Institute of Organic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences Kasprzaka 44/52 Warsaw 01-224 Poland
| | | | - Michał Andrzej Kochman
- Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences Kasprzaka 44/52 Warsaw 01-224 Poland
| | - Dharmandra Kumar
- Faculty of Chemistry, Silesian University of Technology M. Strzody 9 Gliwice 44-100 Poland
| | - Adam Kubas
- Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences Kasprzaka 44/52 Warsaw 01-224 Poland
| | - Przemysław Data
- Faculty of Chemistry, Silesian University of Technology M. Strzody 9 Gliwice 44-100 Poland
| | - Marcin Lindner
- Institute of Organic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences Kasprzaka 44/52 Warsaw 01-224 Poland
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Mohamed Abdelmoniem A, Abdelshafy Abdelhamid I, Butenschön H. Bidirectional Synthesis, Photophysical and Electrochemical Characterization of Polycyclic Quinones Using Benzocyclobutenes and Benzodicyclobutenes as Precursors. European J Org Chem 2021. [DOI: 10.1002/ejoc.202100848] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Amr Mohamed Abdelmoniem
- Institut für Organische Chemie Leibniz Universität Hannover Schneiderberg 1B 30167 Hannover Germany
- Department of Chemistry Faculty of Science Cairo University 12613 Giza A. R. Egypt
| | | | - Holger Butenschön
- Institut für Organische Chemie Leibniz Universität Hannover Schneiderberg 1B 30167 Hannover Germany
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8
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Matsika S. Electronic Structure Methods for the Description of Nonadiabatic Effects and Conical Intersections. Chem Rev 2021; 121:9407-9449. [PMID: 34156838 DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.1c00074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Nonadiabatic effects are ubiquitous in photophysics and photochemistry, and therefore, many theoretical developments have been made to properly describe them. Conical intersections are central in nonadiabatic processes, as they promote efficient and ultrafast nonadiabatic transitions between electronic states. A proper theoretical description requires developments in electronic structure and specifically in methods that describe conical intersections between states and nonadiabatic coupling terms. This review focuses on the electronic structure aspects of nonadiabatic processes. We discuss the requirements of electronic structure methods to describe conical intersections and nonadiabatic couplings, how the most common excited state methods perform in describing these effects, and what the recent developments are in expanding the methodology and implementing nonadiabatic couplings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Spiridoula Matsika
- Department of Chemistry, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122, United States
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Marsili E, Prlj A, Curchod BFE. Caveat when using ADC(2) for studying the photochemistry of carbonyl-containing molecules. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2021; 23:12945-12949. [PMID: 34085679 PMCID: PMC8207513 DOI: 10.1039/d1cp02185k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2021] [Accepted: 05/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Several electronic-structure methods are available to study the photochemistry and photophysics of organic molecules. Among them, ADC(2) stands as a sweet spot between computational efficiency and accuracy. As a result, ADC(2) has recently seen its number of applications booming, in particular to unravel the deactivation pathways and photodynamics of organic molecules. Despite this growing success, we demonstrate here that care has to be taken when studying the nonradiative pathways of carbonyl-containing molecules, as ADC(2) appears to suffer from a systematic flaw.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Antonio Prlj
- Department of Chemistry, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, UK.
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10
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Liang R. First-Principles Nonadiabatic Dynamics Simulation of Azobenzene Photodynamics in Solutions. J Chem Theory Comput 2021; 17:3019-3030. [PMID: 33882676 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.1c00105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The photoisomerization of azobenzene is a prototypical reaction of various light-activated processes in material and biomedical sciences. However, its reaction mechanism has been under debate for decades, partly due to the challenges in computational simulations to accurately describe the molecule's photodynamics. A recent study (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142 (49), 20,680-20,690) addressed the challenges by combining the hole-hole Tamm-Dancoff Approximated (hh-TDA) density functional theory (DFT) method with the ab initio multiple spawning (AIMS) algorithm. The hh-TDA-DFT/AIMS method was applied to first-principles nonadiabatic dynamics simulation of azobenzene's photodynamics in the vacuum. However, it remains necessary to benchmark this new method in realistic molecular environments against experimental data. In the current work, the hh-TDA-DFT/AIMS method was employed in a quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics setting to characterize the trans azobenzene's photodynamics in explicit methanol and n-hexane solvents, following both the S1 (nπ*) and S2 (ππ*) excitations. The simulated absorption and fluorescence spectra following the S2 excitation quantitatively agree with the experiments. However, the hh-TDA-DFT method overestimates the torsional barrier on the S1 state, leading to an overestimation of the S1 state lifetime. The excited-state population decays to the ground state through two competing channels. The reactive channel partially yields the cis azobenzene photoproduct, and the unreactive channel exclusively leads to the reactant. The S2 excitation increases the decay through the unreactive channel and thus decreases the isomerization quantum yield compared to the S1 excitation. The solvent slows down the azobenzene's torsional dynamics on the S1 state, but its polarity minimally affects the reaction kinetics and quantum yields. Interestingly, the dynamics of the central torsion and angles of azobenzene play a critical role in determining the final isomer of the azobenzene. This benchmark study validates the hh-TDA-DFT/AIMS method's accuracy for simulating the azobenzene's photodynamics in realistic molecular environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruibin Liang
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409, United States
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11
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Coppola F, Cimino P, Raucci U, Chiariello MG, Petrone A, Rega N. Exploring the Franck-Condon region of a photoexcited charge transfer complex in solution to interpret femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy: excited state electronic structure methods to unveil non-radiative pathways. Chem Sci 2021; 12:8058-8072. [PMID: 34194695 PMCID: PMC8208128 DOI: 10.1039/d1sc01238j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2021] [Accepted: 04/27/2021] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
We present electronic structure methods to unveil the non-radiative pathways of photoinduced charge transfer (CT) reactions that play a main role in photophysics and light harvesting technologies. A prototypical π-stacked molecular complex consisting of an electron donor (1-chloronaphthalene, 1ClN) and an electron acceptor (tetracyanoethylene, TCNE) was investigated in dichloromethane solution for this purpose. The characterization of TCNE:π:1ClN in both its equilibrium ground and photoinduced low-lying CT electronic states was performed by using a reliable and accurate theoretical-computational methodology exploiting ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. The structural and vibrational time evolution of key vibrational modes is found to be in excellent agreement with femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy experiments [R. A. Mathies et al., J. Phys. Chem. A, 2018, 122, 14, 3594], unveiling a correlation between vibrational fingerprints and electronic properties. The evaluation of nonadiabatic coupling matrix elements along generalized normal modes has made possible the interpretation on the molecular scale of the activation of nonradiative relaxation pathways towards the ground electronic state. In particular, two low frequency vibrational modes such as the out of plane bending and dimer breathing and the TCNE central C[double bond, length as m-dash]C stretching play a prominent role in relaxation phenomena from the electronic CT state to the ground state one.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico Coppola
- Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Napoli Federico II, Complesso Universitario di M.S. Angelo via Cintia Napoli 80126 Italy
| | - Paola Cimino
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Salerno Salerno 84084 Italy
| | - Umberto Raucci
- Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Napoli Federico II, Complesso Universitario di M.S. Angelo via Cintia Napoli 80126 Italy
| | - Maria Gabriella Chiariello
- Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Napoli Federico II, Complesso Universitario di M.S. Angelo via Cintia Napoli 80126 Italy
| | - Alessio Petrone
- Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Napoli Federico II, Complesso Universitario di M.S. Angelo via Cintia Napoli 80126 Italy
| | - Nadia Rega
- Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Napoli Federico II, Complesso Universitario di M.S. Angelo via Cintia Napoli 80126 Italy
- Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca sui Biomateriali (CRIB) Piazzale Tecchio Napoli I-80125 Italy
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Kałka AJ, Brela MZ, Turek AM. Unravelling the nature of a toluene-fumaronitrile complex. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2021; 23:16128-16141. [PMID: 34296231 DOI: 10.1039/d1cp01895g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
In this research, the occurrence and anomalous increase of an additional absorption band observed in the spectrum of fumaronitrile dissolved in toluene are explained and characterized. The formation of a stable ground-state complex between these two molecules is evidenced by both experimental and theoretical studies. TD-DFT calculations show that the presence of an unexpected signal in the absorption spectra originates from the photoinduced intermolecular charge-transfer process occurring within this system. The mechanism and the efficiency of the adduct formation were investigated using both spectral measurements (UV-Vis, IR) and quantum-mechanical calculations (DFT). The influence of the solvent polarity on the complex stability was also evaluated. Since the forces responsible for the adduct formation turn out to be of a rather weak, dispersive character, the related equilibrium stability constant is relatively low and becomes even lower with the increase in solvent polarity. Finally, the system was analyzed for the expected fluorescence emission of the resulting complex, but none was observed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrzej J Kałka
- Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 2, 30-387 Kraków, Poland.
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