Energetics and structural mechanisms of photochemical processes in molecules of aldonitrone vinylogs

Depending on the multiplicity of the excited state, alternative photoreactions are realized in methoxy and acetoxy derivatives of aldonitrone vinylogs: diabatic nitrone-oxazypyridone rearrangement in the first excited singlet state and E-Z isomerization involving the C=N bond in the triplet state. In the case of aldonitrone vinylogs with an o-hydroxy group in the -aryl ring one observed adiabatic proton transfer from the hydroxy group to the azotoxido group with a subsequent diabatic reaction involving cyclization to the 2H-chromene structure. The same transfer is also realized in the triplet state. The quantum yields were determined, and the energies of activation of the photoreactions and the reverse thermal processes were evaluated.Translated from Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 10, pp. 1373–1378, October, 1990.     

Theoretical aspects of the radiation effects of polymers

The Millar–Wall–Charlesby empirical rule of radiation effects on polymers was theoretically examined. The theoretically calculated adiabatic potential curves of the main chain scission and side chain cleavage revealed that the effects of radiation on polymers are clearly interpreted as chemical reactions in the excited states; namely, that degradation occurs when little or no activation energy is required in the main chain cleavage reaction in the excited states, or, in other words, stabilization of the excited polymer molecule leads to the main chain cleavage. Crosslinking occurs when moderate or large activation energy is required in the main chain cleavage reaction in any electronic state and little or no activation energy is needed in the C? H bond cleavage reaction in the excited states. Therefore stabilization of the excited polymer molecule leads to the formation of a polymer radical that crosslinks. It was concluded that Millar–Wall–Charlesby's rule is exact only when the shape of the adiabatic potential curve in the ground state reflects those in the excited states.     

Three-dimensional quantum dynamics study of vibrational predissociation of HeI2 van der Waals molecule for low vibrational excitation using the time-dependent wave packet method

Three-dimensional quantum mechanical calculations for vibrational predissociation of He1₂(B) van der Waals molecules are presented using the time-dependent wave packet technique within the golden rule approximation. The total and partial decay widths, lifetimes, rates and their dependence on initial vibrational states were obtained for HeI₂ at low initial vibrational excited levels. Our calculations show that the calculated total decay widths, lifetimes and rates agree well with those extrapolated from experimental data available. The predicted total decay widths as a function of initial vibrational states exhibit highly nonlinear behavior. The very short propagation time (less than 1 ps) required in the golden rule wave packet calculation is determined by the duration time of the final state interaction between the fragments on the vibrationally deexcited adiabatic potential surface. The final state interaction between the fragments is shown to play an important role in determining the final rotational distribution. This interpretation clearly explains the dynamical effect that the final rotational distribution shifts to the lower rotational energy levels as the initial vibrational quantum numberu increases.     

Many-body response of benzene at monolayer MoS2: Van der Waals interactions and spectral broadening

Models of surface enhancement of molecular electronic response properties are challenging for two reasons: (a) molecule-surface interactions require a simultaneous solution of the molecular and the surface dynamic response (a daunting task), and (b) when solving for the electronic structure of the combined molecule + surface system, it is not trivial to single out the particular physical effects responsible for enhancement. To tackle this problem, in this work, we apply a formally exact decomposition of the system's response function into subsystem contributions by using subsystem density functional theory (DFT), which grants access to dynamic polarizabilities and optical spectra. In order to access information about the interactions between the subsystems, we extend a previously developed subsystem-based adiabatic connection fluctuation-dissipation theorem of DFT to separate the additive from the nonadditive correlation energy and identify the nonadditive correlation as the van der Waals interactions. As an example, we choose benzene adsorbed on monolayer MoS₂. We isolate the contributions to benzene's dynamic response arising from the interaction with the surface, and for the first time, we evaluate the enhancements to the effectiveness of C₆ coefficients as a function of benzene-MoS₂ distance and adsorption site. We also quantify the spectral broadening of the benzene's electronic excited states due to their interaction with the surface. We find that the broadening has a similar decay law with the molecule-surface distance as the leading van der Waals interactions (ie, R⁻⁶ ) and that the surface enhancement of dispersion interactions between benzene molecules is less than 5% but is still large enough (0.5 kcal/mol) to likely play a role in the prediction of interface morphologies.     

Dissipative dynamics within the electronic friction approach: the femtosecond laser desorption of H2/D2 from Ru(0001)

An electronic friction approach based on Langevin dynamics is used to describe the multidimensional (six-dimensional) dynamics of femtosecond laser induced desorption of H(2) and D(2) from a H(D)-covered Ru(0001) surface. The paper extends previous reduced-dimensional models, using a similar approach. In the present treatment forces and frictional coefficients are calculated from periodic density functional theory (DFT) and essentially parameter-free, while the action of femtosecond laser pulses on the metal surface is treated by using the two-temperature model. Our calculations shed light on the performance and validity of various adiabatic, non-adiabatic, and Arrhenius/Kramers type kinetic models to describe hot-electron mediated photoreactions at metal surfaces. The multidimensional frictional dynamics are able to reproduce and explain known experimental facts, such as strong isotope effects, scaling of properties with laser fluence, and non-equipartitioning of vibrational, rotational, and translational energies of desorbing species. Further, detailed predictions regarding translations are made, and the question for the controllability of photoreactions at surfaces with the help of vibrational preexcitation is addressed.     

Spectroscopic consequences of a mixed valence excited state: quantitative treatment of a dihydrazine diradical dication

A model for the quantitative treatment of molecular systems possessing mixed valence excited states is introduced and used to explain observed spectroscopic consequences. The specific example studied in this paper is 1,4-bis(2-tert-butyl-2,3-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]oct-3-yl)-2,3,5,6-tetramethylbenzene-1,4-diyl dication. The lowest energy excited state of this molecule arises from a transition from the ground state where one positive charge is associated with each of the hydrazine units, to an excited state where both charges are associated with one of the hydrazine units, that is, a Hy-to-Hy charge transfer. The resulting excited state is a Class II mixed valence molecule. The electronic emission and absorption spectra, and resonance Raman spectra, of this molecule are reported. The lowest energy absorption band is asymmetric with a weak low-energy shoulder and an intense higher energy peak. Emission is observed at low temperature. The details of the absorption and emission spectra are calculated for the coupled surfaces by using the time-dependent theory of spectroscopy. The calculations are carried out in the diabatic basis, but the nuclear kinetic energy is explicitly included and the calculations are exact quantum calculations of the model Hamiltonian. Because the transition involves the transfer of an electron from the hydrazine on one side of the molecule to the hydrazine on the other side and vice versa, the two transitions are antiparallel and the transition dipole moments have opposite signs. Upon transformation to the adiabatic basis, the dipole moment for the transition to the highest energy adiabatic surface is nonzero, but that for the transition to the lowest surface changes sign at the origin. The energy separation between the two components of the absorption spectrum is twice the coupling between the diabatic basis states. The bandwidths of the electronic spectra are caused by progressions in totally symmetric modes as well as progressions in the modes along the coupled coordinate. The totally symmetric modes are modeled as displaced harmonic oscillators; the frequencies and displacements are determined from resonance Raman spectra. The absorption, emission, and Raman spectra are fit simultaneously with one parameter set. The coupling in the excited electronic state H(ab)(ex) is 2000 cm(-1). Excited-state mixed valence is expected to be an important contributor to the electronic spectra of many organic and inorganic compounds. The energy separations and relative intensities enable the excited-state properties to be calculated as shown in this paper, and the spectra provide new information for probing and understanding coupling in mixed valence systems.     

Nonadiabatic core polarization and penetration correction in alkali-like atoms: Model computations on excited states of helium

Correlation between the motion of a highly excited outer electron and that of the remaining ionic “core” of an atom is generally treated in an adiabatic approximation, in which it is assumed that the outer electron affects the core in the same way as a stationary point charge. An alternative approach to this correlation problem which avoids the adiabatic approximation is tested here on the 1s2p, 1s3d, and 1s4f states of helium. The results provide the first accurate test of the adiabatic approximation and of a simple correction for the nonzero velocity of the outer electron. The approach used here is based on neglect, in the “correlation” part of the wave function, of the possibility that the outer electron comes closer to the nucleus than any core electron (“penetration”). A correction for this neglect is derived and tested on a version of the adiabatic approximation that likewise neglects penetration.     

CASSCF study into the mechanism for predissociation of the allyl radical

A theoretical study has been carried out on the allyl radical in its ground and first excited electronic states. Complete active space self‐consistent field (CASSCF) calculations show the presence of a conical intersection between the ground and first excited electronic states (～400 cm^?1 above the adiabatic excited state energy), reached by decreasing the C? C? C angle and twisting the C? C bonds. The presence of this conical intersection provides a likely explanation for the very rapid predissociation in the excited electronic state. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2006     

AN UNUSUAL EXCITED STATE SPECIES OF ortho- HYDROXY-CINNAMIC ACID*

The fluorescence of ortho-hydroxycinnamic acid was studied in aqueous solution over the pH 0-14 range and in methanol. At pH values above 9.7, intense anion fluorescence is observed. In the pH 4-9 range emissions are from both the monoanion (albeit weakly) and from the dianion due to photodissociation. In the pH 0-4 range a blue and a green fluorescence was found, which is attributed to emissions from the unchanged molecule and from an unusual excited state tautomer respectively. The latter is assumed to be the phenolate anion of cinnamic acid and represents a tautomer with no equivalent in the electronic ground state. It is assumed to be formed by adiabatic photodissociation during the lifetime of the first excited singlet state.     

Nonadiabatic effects in C-Br bond scission in the photodissociation of bromoacetyl chloride

Bromoacetyl chloride photodissociation has been interpreted as a paradigmatic example of a process in which nonadiabatic effects play a major role. In molecular beam experiments by Butler and co-workers [J. Chem. Phys. 95, 3848 (1991); J. Chem. Phys. 97, 355 (1992)], BrCH2C(O)Cl was prepared in its ground electronic state (S0) and excited with a laser at 248 nm to its first excited singlet state (S1). The two main ensuing photoreactions are the ruptures of the C-Cl bond and of the C-Br bond. A nonadiabatic model was proposed in which the C-Br scission is strongly suppressed due to nonadiabatic recrossing at the barrier formed by the avoided crossing between the S1 and S2 states. Recent reduced-dimensional dynamical studies lend support to this model. However, another interpretation that has been given for the experimental results is that the reduced probability of C-Br scission is a consequence of incomplete intramolecular energy redistribution. To provide further insight into this problem, we have studied the energetically lowest six singlet electronic states of bromoacetyl chloride by using an ab initio multiconfigurational perturbative electronic structure method. Stationary points (minima and saddle points) and minimum energy paths have been characterized on the S0 and S1 potential energy surfaces. The fourfold way diabatization method has been applied to transform five adiabatic excited electronic states to a diabatic representation. The diabatic potential energy matrix of the first five excited singlet states has been constructed along several cuts of the potential energy hypersurfaces. The thermochemistry of the photodissociation reactions and a comparison with experimental translational energy distributions strongly suggest that nonadiabatic effects dominate the C-Br scission, but that the reaction proceeds along the energetically allowed diabatic pathway to excited-state products instead of being nonadiabatically suppressed. This conclusion is also supported by the low values of the diabatic couplings on the C-Br scission reaction path. The methodology established in the present study will be used for the construction of global potential energy surfaces suitable for multidimensional dynamics simulations to test these preliminary interpretations.     

On the lowest electronic states of the C2F radical

The adiabatic energy surfaces of the lowest three electronic states [²(²A′ and ²A′)] and ²Σ⁺[²A′] of the C₂F radical were investigated by the Hartree-Fock multiconfiguration self-consistent field (HF—MCSCF) ab initio method using a large set of atomic natural orbitals (ANO) and an extended configuration space, and the results were shown to be in agreement with the predictions of valence theory for this radical. The electronic ground state was found to have a bent equilibrium structure, hence contradicting the Walsh rule which predicts for the isoelectronic molecules a ² linear state. The three states were found to be nearly degenerate and the potential energy surfaces of the two lowest electronic states exhibit an avoided crossing at an energy ∼2000 cm⁻¹ above the ground-state minimum, lower than the highest vibrational fundamental. The strong adiabatic interaction which is responsible for the ordering of the electronic states and their equilibrium geometry involves not only the bending coordinate as normally found for Renner-Teller pairs of states, but also the C—C stretching coordinate, due to the near degeneracy of the ²Σ⁺ and the ² lowest electronic states at linear geometries. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Broad shape resonance effects in CaF Rydberg states

Results of ab initio R-matrix calculations [S. N. Altunata et al., J. Chem. Phys. 123, 084319 (2005)] indicate the presence of a broad shape resonance in electron-CaF(+) scattering for the (2)Sigma(+) electronic symmetry near the ionization threshold. The properties of this shape resonance are analyzed using the adiabatic partial-wave expansion of the scattered electron wave function introduced by Le Dourneuf et al. [J. Phys. B 15, L685 (1982)]. The qualitative aspects of the shape resonance are explained by an adiabatic approximation on the electronic motion. Mulliken's rule for the structure of the Rydberg state wave functions [R. S. Mulliken, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 86, 3183 (1964)] specifies that, except for an (n*)(-32) amplitude scale factor, every excited state wave function within one Rydberg series is built on an innermost lobe that remains invariant in shape and nodal position as a function of the excitation energy. Mulliken's rule implies a weak energy dependence of the quantum defects for an unperturbed molecular Rydberg series, which is given by the Rydberg-Ritz formula. This zero-order picture is violated by a single (2)Sigma(+) CaF Rydberg series at all Rydberg state energies (n*=5-->infinity, more so with increasing n*) below the ionization threshold, under the broad width of the shape resonance. Such a violation is diagnostic of a global "scarring" of the Rydberg spectrum, which is distinct from the more familiar local level perturbations.     

The Enol of Acetone during Photochemical Reactions of 3-Hydroxy-3-methyl-2-butanone and of Acetone

The enol of acetone, formed by disproportionation reactions of 1-hydroxy-1-methylethyl radicals, is detected by NMR, spectroscopy during photoreactions of 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-2-butanone in acetonitrile and of acetone in 2-propanol and slowly tautomerizes to acetone. The photolysis of 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-2-butanone is shown to proceed via Type I cleavage, predominantly from an excited triplet state.     

One‐electron pseudopotential study of the alkali hydride cation NaH+: Structure,spectroscopy, transition dipole moments,and radiative lifetimes

The structure and spectroscopic properties of the ground and the lowest excited electronic states of the alkali hydride cation NaH⁺ have been investigated using an ab initio approach. In this approach, a nonempirical pseudopotential for the Na⁺ core has been used and a core–core and a core‐valence correlation corrections have been added. The adiabatic potential energy curves and the molecular spectroscopic constants for numerous electronic states of ²Σ⁺, ²Π, and ²Δ symmetries, dissociating up to Na (4d) + H⁺ and Na⁺ + H (3d), have been calculated. As no experimental data are available, we discuss our results by comparing with the available theoretical calculations. A satisfying agreement has been found for the ground state with previous works. However, a clear disagreement between this study and the model potential work of Magnier (Magnier, J. Phys. Chem. A 2005, 109, 5411) has been observed for several excited states. Numerous avoided crossings between electronic states of ²Σ⁺ and ²Π symmetries have been found and analysed. They are related to the interaction between the potential energy curves and to the charge transfer process between the two ionic systems Na⁺H and NaH⁺. Furthermore, we provide an extensive set of data concerning the transition dipole moments from X²Σ⁺ and the 2²Σ⁺ states to higher excited states of ²Σ⁺ and ²Π symmetries. Finally, the adiabatic potential energy curves of the ground (X²Σ⁺) and the first (2²Σ⁺) excited states and the transition dipole moments between these states are used to evaluate the radiative lifetimes for the vibrational levels of the 2²∑⁺ state for the first time. In addition to the bound–bound contribution, the bound‐free term has been evaluated and added to the total radiative lifetime. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Experimental investigation of excited state electron transfer reactions between some bicyclic molecules and tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ)

Investigations on photoinduced electron transfer (ET) reactions between excited (ground) bicyclic electron donors 5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-2-naphthol (TH2N), 2-methoxy-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro naphthalene (2MTHN) and ground state (excited) acceptor tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) in fluid solutions of different polarity at the ambient temperature (300 K) by electronic absorption, steady state fluorescence and time-resolved spectroscopic methods in the time domain of nanosecond order have been carried out. It is suggested that in highly polar solvent acetonitrile (ACN), a loosely-structured transient geminate ion-pair complex (GIP) in the excited singlet state (S₁) is formed due to the ET encounter between the present donor TH2N or 2MTHN and TCNQ and this GIP complex rapidly dissociates into stable excited radical ions, as evidenced from steady state spectra. In polar DMF solvents, TCNQ exhibits an electronic absorption band of its anion without the presence of donor molecules. Both steady state and time-resolved data indicate that ET reactions between the present donors and acceptor TCNQ are largely impeded in the less polar solvent tetrahydrofuran (THF). In the highly polar solvent ACN, ET reactions between the donors and acceptor TCNQ have been suggested to be of adiabatic or intermediate between adiabatic and non-adiabatic types, from the observation of radical ion species in the electronic excited state. For some bicyclic donors and TCNQ acceptor systems, large negative ΔG, which is a measure of the gap between locally excited and radical ion-pair states, shows reaction occurs in highly exothermic regions. Further observations of −ΔG>λ, nuclear reorganization energy parameters and the decrement of ET rate (k_ET) with increasing exothermicity (more negative ΔG values) suggest the ET reaction for the bicyclic donor—TCNQ acceptor systems studied in the present investigation might occur in the Marcus inverted region. The possibility of building up efficient photoconducting materials with the present donor acceptor systems is suggested.