Intramolecular charge transfer assisted by conformational changes in the excited state of fluorene-dibenzothiophene-S,S-dioxide co-oligomers

The strong solvatochromism observed for two fluorene-dibenzothiophene-S,S-dioxide oligomers in polar solvents has been investigated using steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence techniques. A low-energy absorption band, attributed to a charge-transfer (CT) state, is identified by its red shift with increasing solvent polarity. In nonpolar solvents, the emission of these conjugated luminescent oligomers shows narrow and well-resolved features, suggesting that the emission comes from a local excited state (LE), by analogy to their conjugated fluorene-based polymer counterparts. However, in polar solvents, only a featureless broad emission is observed at longer wavelengths (CT emission). A linear correlation between the energy maximum of the fluorescence emission and the solvent orientation polarizability factor Deltaf (Lippert-Mataga equation) is observed through a large range of solvents. In ethanol, below 230 K, the emission spectra of both oligomers show dual fluorescence (LE-like and CT) with the observation of a red-edge excitation effect. The stabilization of the CT emissive state by solvent polarity is accompanied/followed by structural changes to adapt the molecular structure to the new electronic density distribution. In ethanol, above 220 K, the solvent reorganization occurs on a faster time scale (less than 10 ps at 290 K), and the structural relaxation of the molecule (CT(unrelaxed) --> CT(Relaxed)) can be followed independently. The magnitude of the forward rate constant, k(1)(20 degrees C) approximately 20 x 10(9) s(-1), and the reaction energy barrier, E(a) approximately 3.9 kcal mol(-1), close to the energy barrier for viscous flow in ethanol (3.54 kcal mol(-1)), show that large-amplitude molecular motions are present in the stabilization of the CT state.