Ultrafast hydrogen bond strengthening of the photoexcited fluorenone in alcohols for facilitating the fluorescence quenching

The time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) method was performed to investigate the excited-state hydrogen-bonding dynamics of fluorenone (FN) in hydrogen donating methanol (MeOH) solvent. The infrared spectra of the hydrogen-bonded FN-MeOH complex in both the ground state and the electronically excited states are calculated using the TDDFT method, since the ultrafast hydrogen-bonding dynamics can be investigated by monitoring the vibrational absorption spectra of some hydrogen-bonded groups in different electronic states. We demonstrated that the intermolecular hydrogen bond C=O...H-O between fluorenone and methanol molecules is significantly strengthened in the electronically excited-state upon photoexcitation of the hydrogen-bonded FM-MeOH complex. The hydrogen bond strengthening in electronically excited states can be used to explain well all the spectral features of fluorenone chromophore in alcoholic solvents. Furthermore, the radiationless deactivation via internal conversion (IC) can be facilitated by the hydrogen bond strengthening in the excited state. At the same time, quantum yields of the excited-state deactivation via fluorescence are correspondingly decreased. Therefore, the total fluorescence of fluorenone in polar protic solvents can be drastically quenched by hydrogen bonding.     

Time‐dependent density functional theory study on the electronic excited‐state hydrogen‐bonding dynamics of 4‐aminophthalimide (4AP) in aqueous solution: 4AP and 4AP–(H2O)1,2 clusters

The time‐dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) method has been carried out to investigate the excited‐state hydrogen‐bonding dynamics of 4‐aminophthalimide (4AP) in hydrogen‐donating water solvent. The infrared spectra of the hydrogen‐bonded solute?solvent complexes in electronically excited state have been calculated using the TDDFT method. We have demonstrated that the intermolecular hydrogen bond C? O···H? O and N? H···O? H in the hydrogen‐bonded 4AP?(H₂O)₂ trimer are significantly strengthened in the electronically excited state by theoretically monitoring the changes of the bond lengths of hydrogen bonds and hydrogen‐bonding groups in different electronic states. The hydrogen bonds strengthening in the electronically excited state are confirmed because the calculated stretching vibrational modes of the hydrogen bonding C?O, amino N? H, and H? O groups are markedly red‐shifted upon photoexcitation. The calculated results are consistent with the mechanism of the hydrogen bond strengthening in the electronically excited state, while contrast with mechanism of hydrogen bond cleavage. Furthermore, we believe that the transient hydrogen bond strengthening behavior in electroniclly excited state of chromophores in hydrogen‐donating solvents exists in many other systems in solution. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2010     

Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory Study on the Electronic Excited State of Hydrogen-Bonded Clusters Formed by 2-Hydroxybenzonitrile (<Emphasis Type="Italic">o</Emphasis>-Cyanophenol) and Carbon Monoxide

Time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) method has been carried out to investigate excited-state hydrogen-bonding dynamics between 2-hydroxybenzonitrile (o-cyanophenol) and carbon monoxide. We have demonstrated that intermolecular hydrogen bond between 2-hydroxybenzonitrile (o-cyanophenol) and C=O group are significantly strengthened in the electronically excited state by theoretically monitoring the changes of the bond lengths of hydrogen bonds and hydrogen-bonding groups in different electronic states. In this study, we firstly analyze frontier molecular orbitals (MOs). Our results are consistent with the intermolecular hydrogen bond strengthening in the electronically excited state of Coumarin 102 in alcoholic solvents, which has been demonstrated for the first time by Zhao and Han. Moreover, the calculated electronic excitation energies of the hydrogen bonding C=O and O–H groups are markedly red-shifted upon photoexcitation, which illustrates the hydrogen bonds strengthen in the electronically excited state again. And the geometric structures in both ground state and the S₁ state of this hydrogen-bonded complex are calculated using the density functional theory (DFT) and TDDFT methods, respectively.     

Early time hydrogen-bonding dynamics of photoexcited coumarin 102 in hydrogen-donating solvents: theoretical study

To study the early time hydrogen-bonding dynamics of chromophore in hydrogen-donating solvents upon photoexcitation, the infrared spectra of the hydrogen-bonded solute-solvent complexes in electronically excited states have been calculated using the time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) method. The hydrogen-bonding dynamics in electronically excited states can be widely monitored by the spectral shifts of some characteristic vibrational modes involved in the formation of hydrogen bonds. In this study, we have demonstrated that the intermolecular hydrogen bonds between coumarin 102 (C102) and hydrogen-donating solvents are strengthened in the early time of photoexcitation to the electronically excited state by theoretically monitoring the stretching modes of C=O and H-O groups. This is significantly contrasted with the ultrafast hydrogen bond cleavage taking place within a 200-fs time scale upon electronic excitation, proposed in many femtosecond time-resolved vibrational spectroscopy experiments. The transient hydrogen bond strengthening behaviors in excited states of chromophores in hydrogen-donating solvents, which we have demonstrated here for the first time, may take place widely in many other systems in solution and are very important to explain the fluorescence-quenching phenomena associated with some radiationless deactivation processes, for example, the ultrafast solute-solvent intermolecular electron transfer and the internal conversion process from the fluorescent state to the ground state.     

Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory Study on Excited-State Hydrogen Bonding Dynamics of Acetic Acid Hydrates

The time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) method was performed to investigate the hydrogen-bonding dynamics of acetic acid (AA) hydrates in aqueous solution. For AA, it tends to be both active hydrogen acceptor and donor and denote double H-bonds as O_A···H_W and H_A···O_W, resulting in ring structure hydrates. The ground-state geometry optimizations and electronic transition energies and corresponding oscillation strengths of the low-lying electronically excited states for the isolated AA monomer and the hydrogen-bonded ring structure hydrates are calculated by the density functional theory and TDDFT methods, respectively. Different types of intermolecular hydrogen bonds are formed between one AA molecule and water molecules. According to Zhao’s rule on the excited-state hydrogen bonding dynamics, it can be found that the intermolecular hydrogen bonds O_A···H_W and H_A···O_W are strengthened in electronically excited states of the hydrogen-bonded ring structure hydrates, with the excitation energy of a related excited state being lowered and electronic spectral redshifts being induced. Moreover, the hydrogen bond strengthening in the electronically excited state is crucial to the photophysics and photochemistry of hydrates with AA in aqueous solution.     

A Theoretical Study on Hydrogen‐Bonded Complex of Proflavine Cation and Water: The Site‐dependent Feature of Hydrogen Bond Strengthening and Weakening

The intermolecular hydrogen‐bonds between proflavine cation (PC) and water molecules are investigated by density functional theory (DFT) and time‐dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) methods. The ground‐state geometry optimizations, electronic excitation energies and corresponding oscillation strengths of the low‐lying electronically excited states for the isolated proflavine cation, the hydrogen‐bonded PC–H2O dimer and PC–(H2O)2 trimer are calculated. Intermolecular hydrogen bonds at the central site of proflavine molecule are found to be stronger than the peripheral site. The hydrogen bond N–H???O for the hydrogen‐bonded dimer are indicated to be weakened in the excited states, since the excitation energy is increased slightly comparing to the monomer. Hydrogen bonds of PC–(H2O)2 trimer with the same type as the dimer are strengthened in the excited state, which is demonstrated by the decrease of the excited energies. Thus, hydrogen bond strengthening and weakening are observed to reveal site dependent feature in proflavine molecule. Furthermore, the hydrogen bond at central site induces the blue‐shift of the absorption spectrum, while the ones at peripheral site induce red‐shift. Hydrogen bonds with the same type at peripheral and central sites of proflavine molecule provide different effects on the photochemical and photophysical properties of proflavine.     

Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory Study on Electronic Excited-State Hydrogen Bonding of Benzonitrile in Methanol Solution

In this work, the time dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) method was used to investigate the hydrogen bonding dynamics of benzonitrile (PhCN) as hydrogen acceptor in hydrogen donating solvent methanol (MeOH). The ground-state geometry optimizations and the electronic transition energies of the isolated PhCN and MeOH monomers and the two hydrogen-bonded PhCN–MeOH dimers are calculated by the DFT and TDDFT method respectively. According to the results, the hydrogen bond takes the responsibility of the geometric structure change and electronic transfer of the molecules involved. As well, the intermolecular hydrogen-bond C≡N···H–O is strengthened in electronically excited states of the hydrogen-bonded PhCN–MeOH^a (planar structure) and PhCN–MeOH^b (perpendicular structure) as a result of the lower excitation energy and the electronic spectral redshifts. Despite the different structure, the effects of hydrogen bond on PhCN–MeOH^a and PhCN–MeOH^b are considered the same, which serves as a proof that geometric structure has little contribution to the structural and energy change in hydrogen-bonded complexes. However, in high-lying singlet states, the structure can cause the divergence of electronic transition rate between the two hydrogen-bonded complexes, even if within the same transition path. What’s more, the extent of hydrogen bond effect on PhCN and MeOH is different between the low-lying excited states and the high-lying excited states.     

Revisiting the electronic excited-state hydrogen bonding dynamics of coumarin chromophore in alcohols: Undoubtedly strengthened not cleaved

In the present work, the electronic excited-state hydrogen bonding dynamics of coumarin chromophore in alcohols is revisited. The time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) method has been performed to investigate the intermolecular hydrogen bonding between Coumarin 151 (C151) and methanol (MeOH) solvent in the electronic excited state. Three types of intermolecular hydrogen bonds can be formed in the hydrogen-bonded C151–(MeOH)₃ complex. We have demonstrated again that intermolecular hydrogen bonds between C151 and methanol molecules can be significantly strengthened upon photoexcitation to the electronically excited state of C151 chromophore. Our results are consistent with the intermolecular hydrogen bond strengthening in the electronically excited state of Coumarin 102 in alcoholic solvents, which has been demonstrated for the first time by Zhao et al. At the same time, the electronic excited-state hydrogen bond cleavage mechanism of photoexcited coumarin chromophores in alcohols proposed in some other studies about the hydrogen bonding dynamics is undoubtedly excluded. Hence, we believe that the two contrary dynamic mechanisms for intermolecular hydrogen bonding in electronically excited states of coumarin chromophores in alcohols are clarified here.     

Time‐dependent density functional theory study on the electronic excited‐state geometric structure,infrared spectra,and hydrogen bonding of a doubly hydrogen‐bonded complex

The geometric structures and infrared (IR) spectra in the electronically excited state of a novel doubly hydrogen‐bonded complex formed by fluorenone and alcohols, which has been observed by IR spectra in experimental study, are investigated by the time‐dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) method. The geometric structures and IR spectra in both ground state and the S₁ state of this doubly hydrogen‐bonded FN‐2MeOH complex are calculated using the DFT and TDDFT methods, respectively. Two intermolecular hydrogen bonds are formed between FN and methanol molecules in the doubly hydrogen‐bonded FN‐2MeOH complex. Moreover, the formation of the second intermolecular hydrogen bond can make the first intermolecular hydrogen bond become slightly weak. Furthermore, it is confirmed that the spectral shoulder at around 1700 cm^?1 observed in the IR spectra should be assigned as the doubly hydrogen‐bonded FN‐2MeOH complex from our calculated results. The electronic excited‐state hydrogen bonding dynamics is also studied by monitoring some vibraitonal modes related to the formation of hydrogen bonds in different electronic states. As a result, both the two intermolecular hydrogen bonds are significantly strengthened in the S₁ state of the doubly hydrogen‐bonded FN‐2MeOH complex. The hydrogen bond strengthening in the electronically excited state is similar to the previous study on the singly hydrogen‐bonded FN‐MeOH complex and play important role on the photophysics of fluorenone in solutions. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 2009     

Reconsideration on hydrogen bond strengthening or cleavage of photoexcited coumarin 102 in aqueous solvent: a DFT/TDDFT study

In this work, the excited-state hydrogen bonding dynamics of photoexcited coumarin 102 in aqueous solvent is reconsidered. The electronically excited states of the hydrogen bonded complexes formed by coumarin 102 (C102) chromophore and the hydrogen donating water solvent have been investigated using the time-dependent density functional theory method. Two intermolecular hydrogen bonds between C102 and water molecules are considered. The previous works (Wells et al., J Phys Chem A 2008, 112, 2511) have proposed that one intermolecular hydrogen bond would be strengthened and the other one would be cleaved upon photoexcitation to the electronically excited states. However, our theoretical calculations have demonstrated that both the two intermolecular hydrogen bonds between C102 solute and H(2)O solvent molecules are significantly strengthened in electronically excited states by comparison with those in ground state. Hence, we have confirmed again that intermolecular hydrogen bonds between C102 chromophore and aqueous solvents are strengthened not cleaved upon electronic excitation, which is in accordance with Zhao's works.     

Time-dependent density functional theory study on electronically excited States of coumarin 102 chromophore in aniline solvent: reconsideration of the electronic excited-state hydrogen-bonding dynamics

The time-dependent density functional theory method was performed to investigate the electronically excited states of the hydrogen-bonded complex formed by coumarin 102 (C102) chromophore and the hydrogen-donating aniline solvent. At the same time, the electronic excited-state hydrogen-bonding dynamics for the photoexcited C102 chromophore in solution was also reconsidered. We demonstrated that the intermolecular hydrogen bond CO...H-N between C102 and aniline molecules is significantly strengthened in the electronically excited-state upon photoexcitation, since the calculated hydrogen bond energy increases from 25.96 kJ/mol in the ground state to 37.27 kJ/mol in the electronically excited state. Furthermore, the infrared spectra of the hydrogen-bonded C102-aniline complex in both the ground state and the electronically excited state were also calculated. The hydrogen bond strengthening in the electronically excited-state was confirmed for the first time by monitoring the spectral shift of the stretching vibrational mode of the hydrogen-bonded N-H group in different electronic states. Therefore, we believed that the dispute about the intermolecular hydrogen bond cleavage or strengthening in the electronically excited-state of coumarin 102 chromophore in hydrogen donating solvents has been clarified by our studies.     

A Theoretical Study on Electronically Excited States of the Hydrogen-Bonded Clusters for Fluorenone and Fluorenone Derivatives in Methanol Solvent

The time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) method has been carried out to study the hydrogen-bonding of fluorenone (FN) and FN derivatives (FODs) in hydrogen-donating methanol solvent. The ground-state geometry structure optimizations, electronic excitation energies and corresponding oscillation strengths of the low-lying electronically excited states for the isolated FN, FODs and methanol monomers and their corresponding complexes have been calculated using DFT and TDDFT methods respectively. Comparing FODs with FN, we have obtained the strength change of the hydrogen bonds and the electronic spectral shift in different excited states. At the same time, the nature of the FODs in the electronic excited states and the influence of the different substituent group have been summed up.     

Theory and algorithms for the excited states of large molecules and molecular aggregates

This project aims to attack the frontiers of electronic structure calculations on the excited states of large molecules and molecular aggregates by developing novel theoretical and computational methods. The methodology development is especially based on the time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) and valence bond (VB) theory, and is expected to be computationally effective and accurate as well. Research works on the following related subjects will be performed: (1) The analytical energy-derivative approaches for electronically excited state within TDDFT will be developed to reduce bypass the computational costs in the calculation of molecular excited-state properties. (2) The ab initio methods for electronically excited state based on VB theory and hybrid TDDFT-VB method will be developed to overcome the limitations of current TDDFT in simulating photophysics and photochemistry. (3) For larger aggregates, neither ab initio methods nor TDDFT is applicable. We intend to build the effective model Hamiltonian by developing novel theoretical and computational methods to calculate the involved microscopic physical parameters from the first-principles methods. The constructed effective Hamiltonian is then used to describe the excitonic states and excitonic dynamics of the natural or artificial photosynthesized systems, organic or inorganic photovoltaic cell. (4) The condensed phase environment is taken into account by combining the developed theories and algorithms based on TDDFT and VB with the polarizable continuum solvent models (PCM), molecular mechanism (MM), classical electrodynamics (ED) or molecular dynamics (MD) theory. (5) Highly efficient software packages will be designed and developed.     

Heteroatom Effects on Electronic Excited State Hydrogen Bonding of Fluorenone‐Based Molecular Materials

In this work, the geometry optimizations in the ground state and electronic excitation energies and corresponding oscillation strengths of the low‐lying electronically excited states for the isolated fluorenone (FN) and FN‐based molecular monomers, the relatively hydrogen‐bonded dimers, and doubly hydrogen‐bonded trimers, are calculated by the density functional theory and time‐dependent density functional theory methods, respectively. We find the intermolecular hydrogen bond CO···H O is strengthened in some of the electronically excited states of the hydrogen‐bonded dimers and doubly hydrogen‐bonded trimers, because the excitation energy in a related excited state decrease and electronic spectral redshift are induced. Similarly, the hydrogen bond CO···H O is weakened in other excited states. On this basis, owing to the important difference of electronegativity, heteroatoms S, Se, and Te that substitute for the O atom in the carbonyl group of the FN molecule have a significant effect on the strength of the hydrogen bond and the spectral shift. It is observed that the hydrogen bond CTe···H O is too weak to be formed. When the CS and CSe substitute for CO, the strength of the hydrogen bonds and electronic spectra frequency shift are significantly changed in the electronic excited state due to the electron transition type transformation from the ππ* feature to σπ* feature. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heteroatom Chem 24:153–162, 2013; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com . DOI 10.1002/hc.21075     

Excited-State Hydrogen Bonding Dynamics of Hydrogen-Bonded Clusters Formed by of Coumarin Derivatives in Aqueous Solution: A Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory Study

The time-dependent density functional theory and the density functional theory are used to investigate the nature of hydrogen bonds formed by the derivative of the coumarin (TFKC) and the water molecules. The ground-state geometry optimizations, electronic excited energies and corresponding oscillation strengths for the TFKC monomer, the hydrogen-bonded TFKC–Water (HBA) dimer, TFKC–Water (HBB) dimer and TFKC–2Water complex are calculated. We find that, upon photoexcitation, the weaker hydrogen bond in the ground state will be affected by the relatively large impact for TFKC in the water. For better understanding the properties of the hydrogen bonds in the excited states, the frontier molecular orbitals of the S0 and S1 states are shown, and we find the obvious electron density transitions form the water molecules to the TFKC monomer. The electron transfer is expected to be the reason the hydrogen bond dynamics happens.     

Time-dependent density functional theory study on hydrogen-bonded intramolecular charge-transfer excited state of 4-dimethylamino-benzonitrile in methanol

The time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) method was carried out to investigate the hydrogen-bonded intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT) excited state of 4-dimethylaminobenzonitrile (DMABN) in methanol (MeOH) solvent. We demonstrated that the intermolecular hydrogen bond C[triple bond]N...H-O formed between DMABN and MeOH can induce the C[triple bond]N stretching mode shift to the blue in both the ground state and the twisted intramolecular charge-transfer (TICT) state of DMABN. Therefore, the two components at 2091 and 2109 cm(-1) observed in the time-resolved infrared (TRIR) absorption spectra of DMABN in MeOH solvent were reassigned in this work. The hydrogen-bonded TICT state should correspond to the blue-side component at 2109 cm(-1), whereas not the red-side component at 2091 cm(-1) designated in the previous study. It was also demonstrated that the intermolecular hydrogen bond C[triple bond]N...H-O is significantly strengthened in the TICT state. The intermolecular hydrogen bond strengthening in the TICT state can facilitate the deactivation of the excited state via internal conversion (IC), and thus account for the fluorescence quenching of DMABN in protic solvents. Furthermore, the dynamic equilibrium of these electronically excited states is explained by the hydrogen bond strengthening in the TICT state.     

Time-dependent density functional theory study on excited-state dihydrogen bonding O-H···H-Ge of the dihydrogen-bonded phenol-triethylgermanium complex

Intermolecular dihydrogen bond O-H···H-Ge in the electronically excited state of the dihydrogen-bonded phenol-triethylgermanium (TEGH) complex was studied theoretically using time-dependent density functional theory. Analysis of the frontier molecular orbitals revealed a locally excited S(1) state in which only the phenol moiety is electronically excited. In the predicted infrared spectrum of the dihydrogen-bonded phenol-TEGH complex, the O-H stretching vibrational mode shifts to a lower frequency in the S(1) state in comparison with that in ground state. The Ge-H stretching vibrational mode demonstrates a relatively smaller redshift than the O-H stretching vibrational mode. Upon electronic excitation to the S(1) state, the O-H and Ge-H bonds involved in the dihydrogen bond both get lengthened, whereas the C-O bond is shortened. With an increased binding energy, the calculated H···H distance significantly decreases in the S(1) state. Thus, the intermolecular dihydrogen bond O-H···H-Ge of the dihydrogen-bonded phenol-TEGH complex becomes stronger in the electronically excited state than that in the ground state.     

Mechanism of hydrogen bond assisted cis-trans isomerization in the excited state of 2-naphthol

Stationary points on the ground and first two excited state potential energy surfaces of 2-naphthol and the hydrogen bonded complex 2-naphtholNH(3) have been located using an approximate method (time dependent density functional based tight-binding) based on time dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). For the obtained extrema, single point calculations at the full TDDFT level (PW916-311+G(**)) were performed for validation purposes. The energetical ordering of the cis and trans forms of 2-naphthol in the different electronic states is found to be in good agreement with available experimental data. Interestingly, also the optical spectrum is correctly predicted by TDDFT in contrast to calculations on unsubstituted acenes in the literature. Besides the stationary points, also the minimum energy paths connecting them are calculated using an adaptive nudged elastic band approach in order to estimate isomerization barriers. While the increase of barrier height going from the ground to the first excited state is already documented, the authors find as a new result a significant barrier reduction upon hydrogen bond formation in the S(2). The observed effect can contribute to the explanation of recent experiments on infrared laser induced cis-trans isomerization in 2-naphthol.