Picosecond time-evolution of the fluorescence spectrum of a large aromatic hydrocarbon molecule in solution at 300K

A new Nd³⁺-YAG laser configuration has been used to obtain fluorescence spectra of a large aromatic molecule with about 12 ps time-resolution. The data presented are both in the form of time-profiles at selected wavelengths and more importantly fluorescence spectra recorded at 6.7 ps intervals around the irradiation event. The sample molecule was 3,4,9,10-dibenzpyrene in hexane at 300 K. The major result was the observation of two short-lived transients in the region 380–480 nm characterized by rather diffuse spectra. One, which included a strong “hot-band”, was clearly pulse- limited and is assigned to the second excited singlet state. The second transient was considerably weaker and survived beyond the irradiation pulse. This had characteristics of a vibrational quasicontinuum in the S₁ state. Out of these evolved the familiar structured spectrum characteristic of thermalised S₁ → S₀ fluorescence. In a related experiment, the ultraviolet fluorescence spectrum (230–340 nm) of two-photon-excited higher states of the same molecule was shown to depend on the time-delay between two excitation pulses.     

Picosecond time resolved energy transfer between rhodamine 6G and malachite green

The process of singlet—singlet resonance energy transfer between rhodamine 6G (donor) and malachite green (acceptor) has been studied with a picosecond laser : streak camera system. Unlike previous investigations, the measurements were conducted in a low viscosity solvent (ethanol) at room temperature. The donor fluorescence decay function was found to be in agreement with that predicted by the Förster theory over a tenfold range of acceptor concentrations (10^?3 M to 10^?2 M) and up to a limiting time resolution of 10 ps. An average R₀ value of 52.5 A was obtained from the fluorescence decay curves, in reasonable agreement with the value of 48 A calculated from spectroscopic data.     

Time-resolved fluorescence spectra using time-correlated photon counting: Picosecond fluorescence in aqueous solutions of Cr(III) complexes at room temperature

A new procedure for measuring time-resolved emission spectra has been implemented. This technique has subnanosecond time resolution combined with the sensitivity and dynamic range needed to cope with extremely weak luminescence. Using this method the emissions of Cr(NH₃)₂ (NCS)₄^? and Cr(NCS)₆^3- in aqueous solution at room temperature have each been analyzed into two components. The fast component has a broad spectrum and is assigned to prompt fluorescence with lifetime below 100 ps. The slow component is dominated by phosphorescence but may include some delayed fluorescence. The phosphorescence lifetime is 5.5 ± 0.5 ns in Cr(NH₃)₂ (NCS)₄^? and 1.65 ± 0.1 ns in Cr(NCS)₆^3-. Order of magnitude estimates have been derived for other photophysical parameters.     

Intramolecular charge delocalization in the singlet excited state of blocked pyrylium ions

The dual fluorescence emission of the pyrylium ion 3 and of the partly blocked 4 has been studied extensively under various conditions. The short-wavelength emitting species N^* of 3 is short-lived (≤200 ps at room temperature) while the long-wavelength emitting species A^* is long-lived (>3 ns, except in acetic acid). This long-wavelength fluorescence undergoes an important solvatochromic shift and the difference Δ between the absorption and fluorescence maxima versus Lippert’s solvent polarity function Δf is linear. Increasing the viscosity of the medium, or decreasing the temperature, decreases the long-wavelength emission quantum yield while that of the short-wavelength fluorescence and its lifetime (from <100 ps to >4 ns) both increase, indicating that A^* is formed from N^*. Introducing an ortho methyl group on the paraanisyl substituent (compound 4) blocks its rotation and reduces the fluorescence I_A./I_N. ratio, but it does not suppress completely the long-wavelength emission. This favors a ground state configuration where the phenyl substituent would be orthogonal to the xanthylium moiety. A strong interaction of 3 and 4 with aliphatic nitriles is characterized from the quenching of the fluorescence emission (with rate constants of ca. 2×10⁸ M⁻¹ s⁻¹). A static quenching process also occurs indicating a ground state interaction with the solvent. In pure aliphatic nitriles, this interaction is the main deactivation pathway of the singlet excited state, and practically no fluorescence nor triplet formation can be observed.     

Ultrafast fluorescence risetime of a polyatomic molecule in solution and under collision-free conditions

The fluorescence rise in solution and in the vapor phase was investigated for the same molecule, dimethyl-POPOP. After optical excitation the structured fluorescence spectrum of the solution evolves in a time shorter than 2 ps. Likewise the fluorescence in the vapor phase rises within less than 2 ps. This finding suggests rapid intramolecular vibrational relaxation in S₁ For excitation with a large excess energy of 11000 cm^?1 the relaxation to fluorescing states in S₁ is still fast under collision-free conditions.     

Picosecond isomerisation kinetics of excited p-dimethylaminobenzonitriles studied by oxygen quenching of fluorescence

Fluorescence quenching with O₂ under high pressure was used for the study of reaction kinetics in the 10 picosecond region. Quenching of the dual fluorescence of 2-methyl-4-dimethylaminobenzonitrile (II) in acetonitrile was analysed. The process B^* → A^* occurs with a lifetime of 11 ps, while the solvent reorientation correlation time is only 1 ps, which supports the isomerisation mechanism which involves twisting the amino group. The lifetime of A^* is 4.5 ns.     

Time Evolution of Local pH Around a Photo-Acid in Water and a Polymer Hydrogel: Time Resolved Fluorescence Spectroscopy of Pyranine

In this work, we propose a new analysis of the time resolved emission spectra of a photo-acid, HA, pyranine (8-hydroxypyrene-1,3,6-trisulphonic acid, HPTS) based on time resolved area normalized emission spectra (TRANES). Presence of an isoemissive point in TRANES confirms the presence of two emissive species (HA and A⁻) inside the system in bulk water and inside a co-polymer hydrogel [F127, (PEO)₁₀₀–(PPO)₇₀–(PEO)₁₀₀]. We show that following electronic excitation, the local pH around HPTS, is much lower than the bulk pH presumably because of ejection of proton from the photo-acid in the excited state. With increase in time, the local pH increases and reaches the bulk value. We further, demonstrate that the excited state pKa of HPTS may be estimated from the emission intensities of HA and A⁻ at long time. The time constant for time evolution of pH is ∼630 ps in water, ∼1300 ps in F127 gel and ∼4700 ps in CTAB micelle. The location and local viscosity sensed by the probe is ascertained using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) and fluorescence anisotropy decay. The different values of the local viscosity reported by these two methods are reconciled.     

Picosecond reversible reaction kinetics of excited p-dimethylaminoacetophenone and m-methyl-p-cyanodimethylaniline studied by oxygen quenching technique

Double fluorescence of p-dimethylacetophenone (DMAPh) in CH₃CN and m-methyl-p-cyanodimethylaniline (MCDMA) in CH₂Cl₂ has been observed and analyzed in terms of reversible excited state isomerisation of the primary excited form b^* to the strongly polar rotamer a^*. Using the oxygen quenching technique, the kinetics of the reactions have been solved and all rate constants separated. The “formal” lifetimes of the species b^*, τ_b ≡ (k_bf + k_bd + k_ba)^?1, are 1 ps and 2.2 ps for DMAPh and MCDMA, respectively. The first value fits well to the reorientation relaxation time of acetonitrile.     

Ultrafast spectroscopy studies on the mechanism of electron transfer and energy conversion in the isolated pseudo ginseng, water hyacinth and spinach chloroplasts

The spectroscopy characteristics and the fluorescence lifetime for the chloroplasts isolated from the pseudo ginseng, water hyacinth and spinach plant leaves have been studied by absorption spectra, low temperature steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy and single photon counting measurement under the same conditions and by the same methods. The similarity of the absorption spectra for the chloroplasts at room temperature suggests that different plants can efficiently absorb light of the same wavelength. The fluorescence decays in PS II measured at the natural QA state for the chloroplasts have been fitted by a three-exponential kinetic model. The three fluorescence lifetimes are 30, 274 and 805 ps for the pseudo ginseng chloroplast; 138, 521 and 1494 ps for the water hyacinth chloroplast; 197, 465 and 1459 ps for the spinach chloroplast, respectively. The slow lifetime fluorescence component is assigned to a collection of associated light harvesting Chl a/b proteins, the fast lifetime component to the react     

Excitation energy-transfer processes between two trimers in C-phycocyanin hexamer from the cyanobacterium Anabaena variabilis. Investigation by group theory and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy

We have employed group theory and picosecond time-resolved fluorescence isotropy and anisotropy spectroscopy methods to explore the excitation transfers within an isolated C-phycocyanin (C-PC) hexamer (αβ)₆^PCL²⁷_RC, situated at the end of the rod proximal to the core of the pycobilisome (PBS) in the cyanobacterium Anabaena variabilis. The group-theory results imply that excitation energy transfer between two trimers occurs between the lowest exciton level of each trimer. The excitation energy-transfer process might occur at a rate of 10–20 ps, and it may be described by an exciton hopping-like Förster transfer mechanism. Dynamic components of 45–50 ps are assigned to the excitation transfer from β₁₅₅-PCB chromophores to the exciton states of dimers, which consist of two neighbouring monomers of the same trimer in an isolated C-PC hexamer.     

New phosphonate-substituted tricarbocyanines and their interaction with bovine serum albumin

New tricarbocyanine dyes with phosphonate groups (2, 3) were synthesized and their binding constants to bovine serum albumin (BSA) were determined. The binding constants of the synthesized tricarbocyanines and cardiogreen (1) (K_b ~ 10⁵ M^–1) are similar, indicating an insignificant contribution of the Coulomb interaction to the complex formation, which is determined by the polymethine chain interaction with BSA. The fluorescence lifetimes attest to the formation of two types of complexes: the lifetime of the dye complex with BSA with a major contribution (~80%) is 740–800 ps, and a lifetime of ~210 ps corresponds to the complex of dye aggregates with BSA.     

A NEW REUSABLE CHEMICAL ACTINOMETER FOR UV IRRADIATION IN THE 248 - 334 nm RANGE

The highly reversible thermally stable photochromic system consisting of heterocoerdianthrone-endoperoxide (HCDPO) and its parent compounds HCD and 0₂ is proposed as a new reusable liquid chemical actinometer in the UV region 248 ≤λ≤ 334 nm. The foremost advantageous features of this new system are: (1) high reproducibility and accuracy, (2) high sensitivity, (3) almost wavelength independent quantum yields, (4) no loss in accuracy even after 100 repeated actinometric cycles and (5) very easy handling and straightforward calculability of the radiation quantum flux.     

对位氨基能显著提高D-A-D型化合物的双光子吸收性能

报道了具有典型D-A-D型共轭结构的反式2,5-二氰基-1,4-二(4'-甲氧基苯乙烯基)苯(MOS-CN), 2,5-二氰基-1,4-二(4'-二甲胺基苯乙烯基)苯(MAS-CN)和1,4-二(4'-甲氧基苯乙烯基)苯(MOS)的合成. 用核磁、红外和元素分析进行了表征. 测试了紫外吸收光谱、单光子荧光光谱、双光子荧光光谱、双光子吸收系数及双光子吸收截面. 在800 nm的飞秒脉冲激光激发下, 化合物MOS-CN, MAS-CN和MOS分别发出很强的绿色、黄色和蓝色上转换荧光. 化合物MOS-CN, MAS-CN和MOS的最大吸收波长、单光子发射波长、双光子诱导荧光波长、荧光量子产率、双光子吸收系数、双光子吸收截面及双光子荧光寿命各分别是393, 473, 367 nm; 470, 569, 434 nm; 475, 574, 438 nm; 0.12, 0.72, 0.21; 0.8, 5.3, 0.3 cm/GW; 270, 1790, 101 GM; 140 ps, 1.32 ns, 54 ps. MAS-CN的双光子吸收截面是MOS-CN的6.63倍, MOS-CN的双光子吸收截面是MOS的2.67倍, 表明对位氨基显著地提高了化合物的双光子吸收性能, 氰基也较大地提高了双光子吸收截面.     

FLUORESCENCE RELAXATION KINETICS AND QUANTUM YIELD FROM THE PHYCOBILISOMES OF THE BLUE-GREEN ALGA NOSTOC SP. MEASURED AS A FUNCTION OF SINGLE PICOSECOND PULSE INTENSITY*

Abstract— A detailed experimental study of the effect of intensity of a 6 ps excitation pulse on the decay kinetics and yield from phycobilisomes (PBsomes) is presented. The fluorescence from the c-phycoerythrin (PE) emission from PBsomes was found to decay as a single exponential with a time of 31 ± 4ps for an excitation intensity <10¹⁴ photons/cm² per pulse. The risetime of the c-phycocyanin (PC) and allophycocyanin (APC) emission from PBsomes was found to be 34 ± 13 ps. Therefore, at low excitation intensities, the energy transfer time between the constituent phycobiliproteins, PE and PC, is measured to be 34 ± 13ps from the fluorescence decay time of PE and the fluorescence risetime of the PC and APC emission. The fluorescence yield from the PE emission component in PBsomes was found to be intensity dependent for excitation intensities >10¹⁴ photons/cm². The decrease in yield with increased intensity in this case occurred at a higher intensity than in the isolated phycobiliprotein PE. The fluorescence yield of the PC and APC emission component was also found to decrease markedly with increasing excitation intensity. This is in contrast to the case of the isolated phycobiliprotein APC which showed only a slight quenching of the fluorescence. The higher quenching observed for the APC emission in the PBsome evidences the higher effective absorption of APC via energy transfer from PE to PC and APC.     

Unusual Photoinduced Electron Transfer from a Zinc Porphyrin to a Tetrapyridyl Free‐Base Porphyrin in a Noncovalent Multiporphyrin Array

Excitation of the peripheral Zn porphyrin units in a noncovalent five‐porphyrin array, formed by gable‐like zinc(II) bisporphyrins and a central free‐base meso‐tetrakis(4‐pyridyl)porphyrin in a 2:1 ratio, ( ZnP₂ )₂? ( TPyP ), does not lead to a quantitative sensitization of the luminescence of the free‐base porphyrin acceptor, even though there is an effective energy transfer. Time resolution of the luminescence evidences a quenching of TPyP upon sensitization by the peripheral ZnP₂ . The time evolution of the TPyP fluorescence in the complex can be described by a bi‐exponential fitting with a major component of 180 ps and a minor one of 5 ns, compared to an isolated TPyP lifetime of 9.4 ns. The two quenched lifetimes are shown to be correlated to the presence of 2:1 and 1:1 complexes, respectively. No quenching of TPyP fluorescence occurs in ( ZnP₂ )₂?( TPyP ) at 77 K in a rigid solvent for which only an energy‐transfer process (τ=150±10 ps) from peripheral ZnP₂ to the central TPyP is observed. An unusual HOMO–HOMO electron‐transfer reaction from ZnP₂ to the excited TPyP units, responsible for the observed phenomena, is detected. The resulting charge‐separated state, ( ZnP₂ )⁺₂?( TPyP )^? is found to recombine to the ground state with a lifetime of 11 ns.     

A comment on the lifetime of the quartet state in chromium(III) polypyridyl complexes

The transient absorption seen for Cr(byp)³⁺₃ and Cr(phen)³⁺₃ rises with the integrated laser pulse on excitation with 30 ps pulses of 355 nm radiation, and remains constant out to 400 ps. These observations and other considerations suggest that the doublet state, and not a nanosecond-lived quartet state as earlier claimed, is being observed.     

Extending Metal‐to‐Polyoxometalate Charge Transfer Lifetimes: The Effect of Heterometal Location

In an effort to develop robust molecular sensitizers for solar fuel production, the electronic structure and photodynamics of transition‐metal‐substituted polyoxometalates (POMs), a novel class of compound in this context, was examined. Experimental and computational techniques including femtosecond (fs) transient absorption spectroscopy have been used to study the cobalt‐containing Keggin POMs, [Co^IIW₁₂O₄₀]^6? ( 1 a ), [Co^IIIW₁₂O₄₀]^5? ( 2 a ), [SiCo^II(H₂O)W₁₁O₃₉]^6? ( 3 a ), and [SiCo^III(H₂O)W₁₁O₃₉]^5? ( 4 a ), finding the longest lived charge transfer excited state so far observed in a POM and elucidating the electronic structures and excited‐state dynamics of these compounds at an unprecedented level. All species exhibit a bi‐exponential decay in which early dynamic processes with time constants in the fs domain yield longer lived excited states which decay with time constants in the ps to ns domain. The initially formed states of 1 a and 3 a are considered to result from metal‐to‐polyoxometalate charge transfer (MPCT) from Co^II to W, while the longer‐lived excited state of 1 a is tentatively assigned to a localized intermediate MPCT state. The excited state formed by the tetrahedral cobalt(II) centered heteropolyanion ( 1 a ) is far longer‐lived (τ=420 ps in H₂O; τ=1700 ps in MeCN) than that of 3 a (τ=1.3 ps), in which the single Co^II atom is located in a pseudo‐octahedral addendum site. Short‐lived states are observed for the two Co^III‐containing heteropolyanions 2 a (τ=4.4 ps) and 4 a (τ=6.3 ps) and assigned solely to O→Co^III charge transfer. The dramatically extended lifetime for 1 a versus 3 a is ascribed to a structural change permitted by the coordinatively flexible central site, weak orbital overlap of the central Co with the polytungstate framework, and putative transient valence trapping of the excited electron on a single W atom, a phenomenon not noted previously in POMs.     

FLUORESCENCE RELAXATION KINETICS AND QUANTUM YIELD FROM THE ISOLATED PHYCOBILIPROTEINS OF THE BLUE-GREEN ALGA NOSTOC SP. MEASURED AS A FUNCTION OF SINGLE PICOSECOND PULSE INTENSITY, I

Abstract— Phycobilisomes from the blue-green alga Nostoc sp. are known to contain the phycobiliproteins: c-phycoerythrin (c-PE), c-phycocyanin (c-PC) and four forms of allophycocyanin (APC I, II, III, and B). We have made a detailed study of the effects of the intensity of a single 6 ps excitation pulse on the decay kinetics and the yield of fluorescence in the individual isolated phycobiliproteins at pH 7 and 23°C. The risetime of the fluorescence of c-PE, c-PC and APC was > 12 ps. We found that the decay of the fluorescence was exponential at intensities of 10¹⁴ photons/cm² in all the phycobiliproteins; the lifetimes being 1552 ± 31ps for c-PE, 2111 ± 83ps for c-PC, 1932 ± 165ps for APC I, 1870 ± 90ps for APC II, 1816 ± 88ps for APC III, (1869 ± 62ps for the averaged APC's I, II, and III), and 2667 ± 233 ps for APC B. We also found that the fluorescence decay became non-exponential in c-PE at excitation intensities < 10¹⁴ photons/cm², but was exponential for all the other phycobiliproteins even at a pulse intensity of 10¹⁵ photons/cm². The relaxation times of c-PE and c-PC decreased with excitation intensity above 10¹⁴ photons/cm². For c-PE and c-PC the relative fluorescence vs excitation intensity was readily described by a relationship derived for a model in which exciton–exciton annihilation occurs. In APC the fluorescence yield and relaxation time were only slightly dependent on the excitation intensity. The results are interpreted to indicate the occurrence of singlet–singlet annihilation intramolecularly among the several phycobilin chromophores within the individual phycobiliprotein molecules in solution. The s to f transfer time is less than 12ps in c-PC.     

Theoretical study of the absorption and emission spectrum and non-adiabatic excited state dynamics of gas-phase xanthone

The ground, singlet, and triplet excited state structures (S₁, S₂, T₁, and T₂) of xanthone have been calculated and characterized in the adiabatic representation by using time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). However, the fast intramolecular transition mechanisms of xanthone are still under debate, and so we perform non-adiabatic excited state dynamics of the photochemistry of xanthone gas phase and find that it follows El-Sayed's rule. Electronic transition mechanism of xanthone is sequential from the S₂ state: the singlet internal conversion (IC) time from S₂ (¹ππ*) to S₁ (¹nπ*) is 3.85 ps, the intersystem crossing (ISC) from S₁ (¹nπ*) to T₂ (³ππ*) takes 4.76 ps, and the triplet internal conversion from T₂ (³ππ*) to T₁ (³nπ*) takes 472 fs. The displaced oscillator, Franck–Condon approximation, and one-photon excitation equations were used to simulate the absorption spectra of S₀ → S₂ transition, with v₅₅ being most crucial for S₀ structure; the fluorescence spectra of S₁ → S₀ transition with v₄₇ for S₁; and the phosphorescence spectra of T₁ → S₀ transition with v₄ for T₁. Our method can reproduce the experimental absorption, fluorescence, and phosphorescence spectra of gas-phase xanthone.     

Study on excited states of hexamethoxybenzene-NO+ charge-transfer complex: incorporation of excited radical cation

A charge-transfer (CT) complex of NOBF₄ and hexamethoxybenzene (HMB), which gives out HMB^?+ as a “fluorescent radical cation probe,” upon one-electron oxidation, has been designed to explore the excited state dynamics of contact radical ion pairs by laser-induced fluorescence and femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopic techniques. The acetonitrile solution of the CT complex showed weak fluorescence with a similar spectrum to that observed for free excited HMB radical cation (HMB^?+*), suggesting the formation of HMB^?+* upon the one-photonic excitation of the CT complex. The laser-power dependence of the fluorescence intensity supported the one-photonic excitation event. We have also observed a short-lived transient species but no long-lived species by femtosecond laser flash photolysis of the CT complex. The lifetime (6.5 ps) was in good accordance with its fluorescence quantum yield (2.5 × 10^?5) and was able to assign the transient species to the fluorescent state, an excited radical ion pair [HMB ^?+*/NO^?]. All the events were completed within the inner sphere and the short lifetime of the transient species could be attributed to rapid back-electron transfer. It is concluded that the excited radical cation character in the excited state of the CT complex originates from the radical ion character in the CT complex in the ground state and that a relatively long lifetime of HMB^?+* facilitates its observation even in the contact ion pair.