Deactivation of Excited States

Nature abhors an electronically excited state and strives to convert this energy to other forms. This article is concerned with the various pathways involved in the degradation of electronic excitation to ordinary “thermal” forms, but will primarily discuss the quenching of excited states by other molecules. The authors include as examples only those phototransformations and interactions encountered in solution.     

Ion imaging studies of ClONO2 photodissociation: Primary branching ratios and secondary dissociation

The photodissociation dynamics of ClONO₂ at 235 nm has been reinvestigated using velocity map ion imaging. We report branching ratios for the Cl + NO₃ and ClO + NO₂ channels to be 0.49:0.51 with anisotropy parameters of β = 0.5 ± 0.1 and β = −0.1 ± 0.3 for the Cl and ClO production channels, respectively. Photodissociation at 248 nm and 262 nm results in similar branching ratios and dynamics as observed at 235 nm. Measured O(³P₂) images arising from ClONO₂ dissociation at 226 nm suggest that oxygen atoms result from the spontaneous dissociation of metastable NO₃. The quantum yield of O atoms arising from the spontaneous dissociation of NO₃ varies from 0.09 at 262 to 0.38 at 235 nm based on the derived internal energy distributions of the NO₃ fragments. We also describe a Monte-Carlo forward-convolution fitting of imaging data which permits detailed analysis of both spontaneous secondary dissociation and secondary photodissociation.     

Comments about the representation of Rydberg and ionic excited states and their photochemistry

This paper discusses the conditions for representing Rydberg and ionic excited states of molecules. It especially shows the intrinsic difficulties of MO methods to treat the weak resonances between strongly polarized situations in highly polarizable symmetric systems; such situations occur in the long distance region for Rydberg excited states of homonuclear molecules, and for the 90 ° twisted singlet excited states of polyenes. The valence/Rydberg mixing is discussed, and some principles for the understanding of Rydberg photochemistry are proprosed, based on a few examples. The present knowledge of the photochemistry of zwitterionic excited states of polyenes is summarized.     

Energy dependence of the roaming atom pathway in formaldehyde decomposition

Recently, a new mechanism of formaldehyde decomposition leading to molecular products CO and H(2) has been discovered, termed the "roaming atom" mechanism. Formaldehyde decomposition from the ground state via the roaming atom mechanism leads to rotationally cold CO and vibrationally hot H(2), whereas formaldehyde decomposition through the conventional molecular channel leads to rotationally hot CO and vibrationally cold H(2). This discovery has shown that it is possible to have multiple pathways for a reaction leading to the same products with dramatically different product state distributions. Detailed investigations of the dynamics of these two pathways have been reported recently. This paper focuses on an investigation of the energy dependence of the roaming atom mechanism up to 1500 cm(-1) above the threshold of the radical channel, H(2)CO-->H+HCO. The influence of excitation energy on the roaming atom and molecular elimination pathways is reported, and the branching fraction between the roaming atom channel and molecular channel is obtained using high-resolution dc slice imaging and photofragment excitation spectroscopy. From the branching fractions and the reaction rates of the radical channel, the overall competition between all three dissociation channels is estimated. These results are compared with recent quasiclassical trajectory calculations on a global H(2)CO potential energy surface.     

The effect of hydration on the photo-deactivation pathways of 4-aminopyrimidine

The influence of water on the photo-deactivation process of 4-aminopyrimidine has been investigated by means of microsolvation and continuum solvation models. Two- and four-water models were used for the former purpose. Vertical excitations, stationary points on the first excited singlet surface, conical intersections (minima on the crossing seam) and reaction paths have been investigated at the state-averaged complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) and multistate CAS perturbation theory to second order (MS-CASPT2) levels of theory. A destabilizing effect of 0.2–0.3 eV has been observed for nπ∗ states while the ππ∗ state is almost unaffected. The two-water model gives already a good representation of hydration effects, especially when combined with the continuum model. A small enhancement of energy barriers (∼0.1 eV) is observed leading to the conclusion that the photodynamics of 4-aminopyrimidine should be affected only little by these solvent effects.     

Density-functional investigation of the excited state properties and the Jahn-Teller effect in [CrX6]3− (X=Cl−, Br−)

Summary The luminescence of [CrX₆]^3– X=Br^–, Cl^– has been studied through density functional theory (DFT) using both deMon and ADF codes. Multiplet energies⁴A₂,²E,⁴T₂, and⁴T₁ have been expressed as energies of non-redundant single determinants and calculated as in Ref. [1]. The influence of the metal ligand distance on the multiplet energies has been investigated. Of particular interest to this work is the Jahn-Teller effect distortion. We found that the system moves to a more stable geometry when the axial bond length is compressed and the equatorial one elongated in agreement with the experimental value.     

Change of molecular structure in the excited states: A (CNDO/2) hole-potential study on phosphine

Molecular structure of phosphine in a number of excited electronic states is studied using the method of hole-potential within the basic framework of CNDO/2 theory. Effects of including 3d-functions of phosphorus in the basis set on computed molecular geometries, transition energies and inversion barriers in the excited states have been investigated. An attempt is made to rationalise qualitatively the structural changes in the excitedstate in terms of Walsh-type correlation diagram constructed with the eigenvalues of the Fock operator in theV _N-1 potential model. A simple orbital model for predicting the nature of structural changes in the excited states is proposed.     

NH_2基态和激发态的SAC－CI和量子拓扑方法研究

ＮＨ_２基态和激发态的ＳＡＣ－ＣＩ和量子拓扑方法研究郑世钧，蔡新华，宋天乐，孟令鹏，中迁博，波田雅彦（河北师范学院化学系，石家庄，０５００９１）（京都大学工程学院京都，日本）关键词ＳＡＣ－ＣＩ方法，激发态，电子密度，拓扑分析用量子拓扑学方法研究激发态...     

染料型有机分子二阶非线性光学性质的分子设计研究

在AM1和INDO/CI方法的基础上,按完全态求和公式编制了计算二阶非线性光学系数β_((?))的程序,并进行了有关分子设计的研究,即在的基础上,考察在苯环和醌环上分别引入不同取代基对二阶非线性光学性质的影响。结论是在苯环上引入推电子基团对增大β有利,引入受电子基团对增大β不利;而在醌环上的结果则相反。对上述结果所反映的规律性在微观上进行了解释。最后设计出两个二阶非线性光学系数较大的分子。     

H_3~+体系基态和电子激发态的价键方法研究

本文应用价键理论的键表酉群方法,讨论H_3~+体系的基态及其几个低激发态,研究了该体系处于激发态时价键结构的变化,得到H_3~+体系的基态为等边三角形,第一激发态为直线型,第二、三激发态为等腰三角形,且基本简并.     

Theoretical investigation of excited states of molecules. An application on the nitrogen molecule

Diverse existing lines for the calculation of excited states are exposed, with an emphasis on those methods that consider both types of correlation energy: the dynamic and the non-dynamic one. We analyze the possibility of to calculate the dynamic correlation energy using a correlation energy density functional applied to a multi-determinantal wavefunction, which would include the non-dynamic correlation energy, versus the use of mono-determinantal wavefunctions, which are not able to include the long-range correlation energy, and versus the use of variational or perturbative calculations from multi-determinantal wavefunctions, with their excessive computational cost. The results obtained with several methods are compared. Contribution to the Serafin Fraga Memorial Issue.     

Theoretical study on the reaction mechanism of bis-addition of methyl azide to C60

The selectivity of attacking sites and the reaction mechanisms of the bis-addition of methyl azide with its corresponding azafulleroid (C₆₀NCH₃) have been investigated using AM1 semi-empirical and density functional methods. The whole reaction processes can be divided into two stages. The first stage is the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition (1,3-DC) reaction of methyl azide with C₆₀NCH₃ giving rise to a triazoline intermediate and the second is the N₂ elimination. Based on the charge distributions, four patterns of the addition sites have been discussed. In view of the energy barriers, two kinds of 6–6 double bonds, which are in the most and the second vicinities of the –NCH₃ addend group of the C₆₀NCH₃, are the two most possible attack sites in the reaction of 1,3-DC. The analyses of the π-orbital axis vector (POAV) and the deformation and interaction energies indicate that it is the favorable interaction energy rather than the strain release that dominates the two preferential attacking patterns. The subsequent thermal elimination of N₂ takes place via two steps in which the breaking of N–N single bond precedes the cleavage of the C–N bonds of the unsubstituted N atom. The N₂ elimination occurs simultaneously with the formation of the new C–N bonds (corresponding to the substituted N atom), giving rise to two isomers of the bisadducts. One is a double azafulleroid with two N atoms bonding to two consecutive 5-6 junctions of the same pentagon, and the other with two N atoms bonding to two alternate 5-6 junctions of the same pentagon. The analysis of the energy results shows that although the former reaction is preferred to some extent, both of the two reactions can take place and both of the two bisadducts are in principle obtainable.     

Photoisomerization of fluorinated 1,3-dimethyl-5-propenyl uracils as a cycle of sequential reactions: Electrocyclization in its use in light-fueled nanomotors

Research in the last ten years has demonstrated that light energy can be used to power artificial nanomotors by exploiting photochemical processes in appropriately designed systems. The photochemical properties of fluorinated derivatives of 1,3-dimethyl-5-propenyl uracils were studied assuming that the electrocyclization of the diene would be a dominant reaction. The primarily formed intermediate, a cyclobutene derivative was expected to undergo further electrocyclic conrotatory ring-opening leading to corresponding E or Z isomer. Keeping in mind the Woodward-Hoffmann and torquoselectivity rules, this photoisomerization is the stereospecific reaction, where the isomerization of each of isomers processes through a different trans-cis cyclobutene-intermediates. This is a cycle of a sequent reactions capable to provide the selective 360° clockwork rotation, which can be used as a model to design a light-fueled nanomotor.     

Investigation of the electronic vibrational structure of furan by REMPI

Resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) has been applied to detect the hot bands as well as the cold bands of the 1a2-->-->3dxy(1A1) Rydberg transition of furan (jet-cooled, mass-analyzed). Based on the unambiguous assignment of the hot bands, a complete vibronic analysis is given for the cold bands of this transition (up to 4600 cm(-1) above the origin). This analysis can be used for the interpretation of the vibrational structure in the X 2A2 photoelectron band. The energy ordering of the five 3d Rydberg states is 1A2 approximately 2A2相似文献   

Photophysics of ruthenium(II) complexes with 2-(2′-pyridyl) pyrimidine and 2,2′-bipyridine ligands in fluid solution

The photophysics of three complexes of the form Ru(bpy)₃₋(pypm)²⁺ (where bpy2,2′-bipyridine, pypm 2-(2′-pyridyl)pyrimidine and P=1, 2 or 3) was examined in H₂O, propylene carbonate, CH₃CN and 4:1 (v/v) C₂H₅OH---CH₃OH; comparison was made with the well-known photophysical behavior of Ru(bpy)₃²⁺. The lifetimes of the luminescent metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) excited states were determined as a function of temperature (between −103 and 90 °C, depending on the solvent), from which were extracted the rate constants for radiative and non-radiative decay and ΔE, the energy gap between the MLCT and metal-centered (MC) excited states. The results indicate that ^*Ru(bpy)₂(pypm)²⁺ decays via a higher lying MLCT state, whereas ^*Ru(pypm)₃²⁺ and ^*Ru(pypm)₂(bpy)²⁺ decay predominantly via the MC state.     

Implementation of ab initio multiple spawning in the Molpro quantum chemistry package

The ab initio multiple spawning (AIMS) method has been developed to solve the electronic and nuclear Schrodinger equations simultaneously for application to photochemical reaction dynamics. We discuss some details of the implementation of AIMS in the Molpro program package. A few aspects of the implementation are highlighted, including a new multiple timescale integrator and a scheme for solving the coupled-perturbed multiconfiguration self-consistent field (CP-MCSCF) equations in the context of ab initio molecular dynamics. The implementation is very efficient and we demonstrate calculations on the photoisomerization of ethylene using more than 5000 trajectory basis functions. We have included the capability for hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) simulations within AIMS, and we investigate the role of an argon solvent in the photoisomerization of ethylene. Somewhat surprisingly, the surrounding argon has little effect on the timescale of non-adiabatic quenching in ethylene.     

Pair-correlated speed distributions for the OH+CH4/CD4 reactions: Further remarks on their classical trajectory calculations in a quantum spirit

Ten years ago, Liu and co-workers measured pair-correlated speed distributions for OH+CH₄/CD₄ reactions by means of velocity map imaging (VMI) techniques at a collision energy of ∼10 kcal/mol [B. Zhang, W. Shiu, J. J. Lin and K. Liu, J. Chem. Phys 122, 131102 (2005); B. Zhang, W. Shiu and K. Liu, J. Phys. Chem. A 109, 8989 (2005)]. Recently, two of us could semi-quantitatively reproduce these measurements by performing full-dimensional quasi-classical trajectory calculations in a quantum spirit on an ab-initio potential energy surface of their own [J. Espinosa-Garcia and J. C. Corchado, Theor. Chem. Acc. (2015) 134: 6; J. Phys. Chem. B 120, 1446 (2016)]. The goal of the present work is to show that these results can be significantly improved by adding a few more constraints in order to better comply with the restrictions imposed by VMI. Overall, the level of agreement between theory and experiment is remarkable owing to the large dimensionality of the reactions under scrutiny. This is an encouraging result considering the computational challenges of quantum scattering calculations for such large processes.     

Flash photolysis/temperature jump study of the vibrational relaxation of N2O(010) by O(P) and NO

This survey begins with the photochemistry at 254 nm and 298 K in the system H₂O₂COO₂RH, the primary objective of which is to determine the rate constants for the reaction OH + RH → H₂O + R relative to the well-known rate constant for the reaction OH + CO → CO₂ + H. Inherent in the scheme is that the reaction HO₂+CO→OH+CO₂ is negligible compared with the OH reaction, and a literature consensus gives k_HO2 < 10⁻¹⁹ cm³ molecule⁻¹ s⁻¹, or some 10⁶ less than k_OH at 298 K. Theoretical calculations establish that the first stage in the HO₂ reaction is the formation of a free radical intermediate HO₂ + CO → HOOCO (perhydroxooxomethyl) which decomposes to yield the products, and that the rate of formation of the intermediate is equal to the rate of formation of the products. The structure of the intermediate and a reaction profile are shown.

High temperature rate data reported subsequent to the data in the consensus and theoretical calculations lead here to a recommendation that, in the range 250–800 K, k_HO2 = 3.45 × 10⁻¹²T^1/2 exp(1.15 × 10⁴/T) cm³ molecule⁻¹ s⁻¹, the hard-sphere-collision Arrhenius modification. This yields k_HO2(298) = 1.0 × 10⁻²⁷ cm³ molecule⁻¹ s⁻¹ or some 10¹⁴ slower than k_OH(298).     

Contracted well-tempered Gaussian basis sets in SCF calculations on the ground and excited electronic states of neutral and ionized diatomic molecules containing first-row atoms

Summary Calculations were done on ground and excited states of C₂, C ₂ ⁺ , C ₂ ^– , N₂, N ₂ ⁺ , O₂, O ₂ ⁺ , O ₂ ^– , CO, CO⁺, CO²⁺, and CO^– using contracted well-tempered basis sets. The (14s 10p) basis sets were augmented with threed, one or twof, and oneg functions. Total energies, orbital energies, and spectroscopic constants were compared with the best available computational data.