Nonequilibrium versus equilibrium molecular dynamics studies of solvation dynamics after photoexcitation of OCIO

The results of our earlier work C. Brooksby, O. V. Prezhdo, and P. J. Reid, J. Chem. Phys. 119, 9111 (2003)] rationalizing the surprisingly weak solvent dependence of the dynamics following photoexcitation of chlorine dioxide in water, chloroform, and cyclohexane are thoroughly tested. Comparisons are made between equilibrium and nonequilibrium solvent response, equilibrium response in the ground and excited electronic states, as well as the cumulant and direct evaluation of the optical response function. In general, the linear response and cumulant approximations are found to hold, although minor deviations are found with all solvents. The ground state, linear response, and cumulant data show best agreement with experiment, most likely due to the better tested ground-state force field and the robust behavior of the linear response and cumulant approximations. The main conclusion of our earlier work explaining the weak solvent dependence by the domination of the van der Waals interaction component remains intact within the more advanced treatments. However, the molecular origin of this surprising experimental observation is different in water and chloroform compared to cyclohexane.