Theoretical investigation of the ground and excited state of silylated coumarin

We present ground and excited state properties of silylated coumarin dyes. We have calculated the energies and dipole moments of ground and excited states of silylated coumarins and some coumarin derivatives. Using CIS we find a good agreement with experimental S₀→S₁ excitation energies. Silylation of dye molecules had minor effect on the transition energies. On the basis of theoretical results, we conclude that silylated dye will have improved long-term photostability compared to its unsilylated counterpart due to its covalent bonding with the host matrix.