‘Non-Koopmans’ States in Stilbene Cations and a Remarkable Example to the «SDT-Equation»: Indeno [2,1-a]indene

The radical cations of indeno [2, 1-a]indene ( 1 ), stilbene ( 2 ) and 3, 5, 3', 5'-tetramethylstilbene ( 3 ) were prepared by γ-irradiation of the neutral precursors in an electron-scavenging matrix at 77 K . Their electronic spectra were recorded and compared to the photoelectron spectra ( PE .) of the neutral precursors. The results show that either the fourth or the fifth excited doublet state of the cations is of «Non-Koopmans» type, with specific doublet energy (D) D (²B_g)=2.74 eV ( 1 ⁺), =2.59 eV ( 2 ⁺), =2.49 eV ( 3 ⁺). Remarkably, 1 ⁺ possesses two electronic states in the 2.7-2.8 eV energy range: ²A_u («Koopmans»-type) and ²B_g («Non -Koopmans»-type). The «SDT»-equation documentclass{article}pagestyle{empty}begin{document}$ {rm D} = sqrt {{rm S} cdot {rm T}} $end{document} approximately connecting excited singlet (S) and triplet (T) states of a neutral alternant system with the excited doublet (D) states of its radical cation - provided e-promotion occurs For all three excited states between the same (paired) orbitals-is satisfyingly exemplified by 1 : S¹ = 3.92 eV and T¹= 2.06 eV for 1 , D^{4 or 5}=2.74 eV for 1 ⁺.