Theoretical studies of conjugation and substituent effect on intramolecular proton transfer in the ground and excited states

The ground- and excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (GSIPT and ESIPT) for 8-hydroxy-4H-naphthalen-1-one (HNA), 5-hydroxynaphthoquinone (HNQ), 1-hydroxy-anthraquione (HAQ), 7-hydroxy-1-indenone (7HIN), 5,8-dihydroxynaphthoquinone (DHNQ) and 4,9-dihydroxyperylene-3,10-quinone (DHP) are studied at B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) and TD B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) level. The calculated results show that the PES of GSIPT for HNA, HNQ and HAQ exhibit a single minimum in the enol zone, while for 7-HIN, DHNQ and DHP exhibit a double minimum and a high barrier between the two minima. The barrierless ESIPT for HNA is predicted, however, the PES of ESIPT for HNQ, HAQ, 7HIN, DHNQ and DHP exhibit a high barrier in the S₁ tautomerism.     

黄芩素激发态分子内质予转移耦合电荷转移反应的实验和理论研究

通过稳态光谱实验和量子化学计算相结合,研究了黄芩素激发态质子转移耦合电荷转移的反应. 实验和计算中S1态吸收峰的缺失表明S1态是暗态. S1暗态导致在实验中观察不到黄芩素在乙醇溶液中的荧光峰,且固体的荧光峰很弱. 黄芩素分子的前线分子轨道和电荷差异密度表明S1态是电荷转移态,然而S2态是局域激发态. 计算的黄芩素分子的势能曲线在激发态只有一个稳定点,这表明了黄芩素激发态分子内质子转移的过程是一个无能垒的过程.     

1-Naphthol as an excited state proton transfer fluorescent probe for sensing bound-water hydration of polyvinyl alcohol

When 1-naphthol incorporated polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) films are allowed to swell in water, there is a loss of fluorescence intensity of the neutral form with a concomitant increase of the anionic form fluorescence intensity. This fluorescence response due to the excited state prototropism (ESPT) of 1-naphthol is very sensitive to the initial stage of hydration of the PVA. Using an existing model of hydrogel swelling and DSC experiments, it was reasoned that 1-naphthol senses the bound-water component of PVA hydration. Thus, 1-naphthol is proposed as an ESPT fluorescent sensor for the specific sensing of bound-water hydration of PVA hydrogel.     

Electronic structures of permethyloligosilane radical cations at the ground and low-lying excited states

The electronic structures at the ground and low-lying excited states of permethyloligosilane radical cations, Si_n(CH₃)_2n+2⁺ (n = 4-7), have been investigated using DFT and ab initio calculations. The calculations showed that positive charge (hole) is delocalized along the Si-Si main chain at the ground and first excited states. On the other hand, the hole is transferred to the methyl side-chain at the second and higher excited states. From these results, it was concluded that hole can move along the Si-Si main chain at thermal conditions. Also, it was predicted that intermolecular hole hopping takes place by photo-irradiation to the permethyloligosilane radical cation. The mechanism of hole transfer was discussed on the basis of the results.     

Theoretical study on the intramolecular proton transfer reactions of 3-methyl-5-hydroxyisoxazole and its water complexes

The optimized structures and proton transfer reactions of 3-methyl-5-hydroxyisoxazole and its water complexes (3-M-5-HIO · (H₂O)_n · (n = 0–3)) were computed at B3LYP and MP2 theoretical level. The results indicates that 3-M-5-HIO has four isomers (Ecis, Etrans, K1 and K2), and the keto tautomer, and K2 is the most stable isomer in the gas phase. Hydrogen bonding between 3-M-5-HIO and the water molecules can dramatically lower the barrier by the concerted transfer mechanism. Ecis · (H₂O)₃ → K1 · (H₂O)₃ and Ecis · (H₂O)₂ → K2 · (H₂O)₂ is found to be very efficient. Comparing with the proton transfer mechanism of 5-HIO shows that the methyl substitution prevents the intramolecular proton transfer.     

Intra- and intermolecular proton transfer reactions in 2-phenyl substituted benzazoles

The present review describes the salient features of inter- and intramolecular proton transfer reactions of 2-(2′-aminophenyl)-, 2-(3′-aminophenyl)-, 2-(4′-aminophenyl)-, 2-(2′-hydroxyphenyl)-, 2-(3′-hydroxyphenyl)- and 2-(4′-hydroxyphenyl)-benzimidazoles, benzoxazoles and benzothiazoles. Fluorescence quantum yield of the phototautomer produced by the intramolecular hydrogen bonding decreases on going from benzimidazole to benzoxazole to benzothiazole. This indicates that the rate of internal conversion increases in the order of compounds as mentioned above. The biprotonic phototautomerism or the presence of intermolecular proton transfer has led to the formation of (i) nonfluorescent zwitterions in case of hydroxyphenyl derivatives and the ground state precursor of this species in neutral molecules, (ii) nonfluorescent monoanions from fluorescent monoanions and (iii) nonfluorescent monocations from monocations in case of aminophenyl derivatives. In the case of 2-(4′-aminophenyl)-substituted compounds, the first protonation has always led to the formation of two types of monocations; one by protonating the amino group and the other by protonating the tertiary nitrogen atom. The former is more stable in aqueous media and the latter in non-polar media.     

The calculation of ground and excited state molecular polarizabilities: A simple perturbation treatment

Second order perturbation theory has been coupled with the CNDO/S CI method of Del Bene and Jaffé to calculate the ground and excited state polarizabilities of various molecules. It is found that this treatment produces reasonably good polarizabilities with great computational ease.     

Molecule in soft-crystal at ground and excited states: Theoretical approach

This account discusses first two computational methods which can be applied to electronic structure calculations of soft-crystals; one is a method composed of the periodic-density functional theory (DFT) for an infinite crystal and the post-Hartree-Fock method for a cluster model, named here cluster-model/periodic-model combined method (abbreviated as CM/PM-Combined method). The other is a quantum mechanics/periodic-molecular mechanics (named QM/Periodic-MM) method, in which a target molecule is calculated by the DFT or the post-Hartree-Fock method and the other moiety is calculated by the MM method under the periodic boundary condition. Then, the performance of these two methods is discussed. The CM/PM-Combined method exhibited good performance for investigating the gas adsorption into MOF and the QM/Periodic-MM succeeded in reproducing geometry of single crystal of platinum(II) complexes. The QM/periodic-MM method has been applied to theoretical studies of the excited state and the emission spectrum in soft-crystals: In a theoretical study of a gold(I) phenyl phenylisocyanide complex, the geometries of a triplet ligand-to-ligand charger transfer (³LLCT) and a triplet metal-metal to ligand charge-transfer (³MMLCT) excited states were optimized in the crystal and the dependences of absorption and emission energies on crystal phase were discussed. In a theoretical study of a platinum(II) dicyano bipyridine complex, the geometries of several delocalized ³MMLCT excited states, emission spectra, and their temperature dependences were investigated in the crystal. In both gold(I) and platinum(II) complexes, the characteristic features of the excited state and the emission spectra were elucidated by the theoretical calculations. Although the CM/PM-Combined method has not been applied to photochemistry issue, brief discussion is presented for its possibility for the application.     

An ab initio study of the ground and excited states of p-benzoquinone

The results of anab initio SCF calculation for the ground state and CI calculations for the excited states of p-benzoquinone are presented and discussed. A minimum basis set of Slater type orbitals was employed and the CI calculations were performed by considering single excitations from valence to virtual SCF molecular orbitals. The convergence of the calculated excitation energies is studied as a function of the number of orbitals used in the CI calculations. These calculations explain quite well the experimental results.     

Proton- and metal cation-enhanced excited state intramolecular proton transfers of 2-(2-hydroxyfluorophenyl)benzoxazole having imidazole moiety

2-(2-Hydroxyfluorophenyl)benzoxazole having an imidazole moiety 1 was synthesized by the two step reactions starting from 2-(pentafluorophenyl)benzoxazole. Protonation at the 3-imidazole nitrogen atom of 1 enhances the green emission around 500 nm, where the positive character caused by the protonation is inductively communicated to the hydroxy group, to recover its intramolecular hydrogen bonding, leading to the ESIPT process. Addition of Al³⁺ or Zn²⁺ to 1 enhances both the green emission and the blue emission around 450 nm in chloroform-acetonitrile.     

光诱导分步分态的苯型脱芳构化反应的理论研究

采用密度泛函理论(DFT)和含时密度泛函理论(TD-DFT)研究了一类重要的含有杂原子的光催化苯型脱芳反应. 研究结果表明, 该脱芳反应是一个分步分态的[4+2]环加成反应, 即前一步脱芳发生在三重态, 后一步脱芳发生在单重态基态. 其中, 苯乙酮基团可被看作为光的接收装置, 吸光后使得体系从单重态经内转换和系间窜越无能垒到达三重态, 并在三重态完成质子转移生成具有反应活性的双烯, 进而引发后续的脱芳反应. 更重要的是, 通过构建势能面发现该反应具有高度的立体选择性, 与实验结果完全相符.     

Design and synthesis of intramolecular hydrogen bonding systems. Their application in metal cation sensing based on excited-state proton transfer reaction

We reported the design and synthesis of a new type of metal-cation probes, 3-hydroxy-4-(1,4,7,10-tetraoxa-13-azacyclopentadec-13-ylmethyl)naphthalene-2-carbaldehyde (1a) and its single hydrogen-bond analogue 1-(1,4,7,10-tetraoxa-13-azacylopentadec-13-ylmethyl)-2-naphthol (2a), in which 1-aza-15-crown-5 ether in combination with the naphthol oxygen acts as a receptor, while the mechanism of excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) is exploited as a signal transducer. The association constant of (2.5±0.5)×10⁴, (3.8±0.4)×10⁴, (5.5±0.5)×10³ and (1.2±0.3)×10⁴ M⁻¹ for the formation of 1a/Na⁺, 1a/Ca²⁺, 2a/Na⁺ and 2a/Ca²⁺ complexes, respectively, in CH₃CN plus drastic fluorescence changes due to the fine-tuning of ESIPT reaction upon complexation, lead 1a and 2a to be highly sensitive fluorescent sensors. The results add a new class into the category of metal-cation probes, with the perspective of designing ESIPT systems capable of sensing bio-analytes.     

2-(benzimidazol-2-yl)-3-hydroxychromone derivatives: spectroscopic properties and a possibile alternative intramolecular proton phototransfer

Three 2-(benzimidazol-2-yl)-3-hydroxychromone derivatives were synthesized. Their spectroscopic and fluorescent properties, due to excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) from OH to carbonyl, were studied. Theoretical possibility of an alternative intramolecular H-bonding and experimental evidence for such behavior are discussed.      

2-(2′-羟苯基)苯并噁唑氨基衍生物电子结构和光谱性质的理论研究

采用量子化学方法优化了间位和对位2-(2′-羟苯基)苯并噁唑氨基取代衍生物(4-AHBO和5-AHBO)基态的第一单重激发态所有可能的稳定构型, 分析了这些异构体在不同溶剂中的相对稳定性. 利用含时密度泛函理论(TDDFT)的不同泛函, 计算了4-AHBO和5-AHBO各异构体在溶剂中的吸收与发射光谱, 考察了它们的电子结构和光谱特征. 结果表明, 4-AHBO(5-AHBO)的双荧光不是由同一种异构体发射的, 而是来源于不同异构体的发射: 长波区的荧光由酮式构型发射, 短波区的发射则可能由四种醇式异构体共同产生. 另外, 也解释了5-AHBO在质子溶剂中光谱异常的原因, 分析了不同氨基取代位和溶剂极性的变化对各异构体构型、光谱性质及电子结构的影响. 理论预测的光谱与实验结果一致.     

Excited state intramolecular proton transfer in 5-hydroxy flavone: A DFT study

Potential energy surfaces (PES) for the ground and excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) processes in 5-hydroxy-flavone (5HF) were studied using DFT-B3LYP/6-31G(d) and TD-DFT/6-31G(d) level of theory, respectively. Our calculations suggest the non-viability of ground state intramolecular proton transfer (GSIPT) in 5HF. Excited states PES calculations support the existence of ESIPT process in 5HF. ESIPT in 5HF has been explained in terms of HOMO, LUMO electron density of the enol and keto tautomer of 5HF. PES scan by phenyl group rotation suggests that the twisted form, i.e., phenyl group rotated by 18.7° out of benzo-γ-pyrone ring plane is the most stable conformer of 5HF.     

Direct observation of the nuclear motion during ultrafast intramolecular proton transfer

The skeletal motions contributing to the reaction path of the ultrafast excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) are determined directly from time resolved measurements. We investigate the ESIPT in the compounds 2-(2′-hydroxyphenyl)benzothiazole, 2-(2′-hydroxyphenyl)benzoxazole and ortho-hydroxybenzaldehyde by UV–visible pump-probe spectroscopy with 30 fs resolution. The proton transfer is observed in real time and a characteristic ‘ringing’ of the molecule in a small number of vibrational modes is found after the reaction. The results show that a bending motion of the molecular skeleton reduces the proton donor–acceptor distance and an electronic configuration change occurs at a sufficient contraction leading to the bonds of the product conformer. The process evolves as a ballistic wavepacket propagation on an adiabatic potential energy surface. The proton is shifted by the skeletal motions from the donor to the acceptor site and tunneling has not to be considered.     

Theoretical study on potential energy curves and spectroscopy properties of ground and low-lying excited electronic states of BrCl~

The calculations on the potential energy curves and spectroscopic constants of the ground and low-lying excited states of BrCl ,one of the important molecular ions in environment science,have been performed by using the multireference configuration interaction method at high level of theory in quantum chemistry.Through analyses of the effects of the spin-orbit coupling interaction on the elec-tronic structures and spectroscopic properties,the multiconfiguration characteristic of the X2Π ground state and low-lying excited states was established.The spin-orbit coupling splitting energy of the X2 Π ground state was calculated to be 1814 cm-1,close to the experimental value 2070 cm-1.The spin-orbit coupling splitting energy of the 2Π(Ⅱ) exited state was predicted to be 766 cm-1.The transition dipole moments and Frank-Condon factors of the 3/2(Ⅲ)-X3/2 and 1/2(Ⅲ)-1/2(I) transitions were estimated,and the radiative lifetimes of the two transitions were briefly discussed.     

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.