1
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Jaiswal VK, Aranda Ruiz D, Petropoulos V, Kabaciński P, Montorsi F, Uboldi L, Ugolini S, Mukamel S, Cerullo G, Garavelli M, Santoro F, Nenov A. Sub-100-fs energy transfer in coenzyme NADH is a coherent process assisted by a charge-transfer state. Nat Commun 2024; 15:4900. [PMID: 38851775 PMCID: PMC11162464 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48871-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2023] [Accepted: 05/15/2024] [Indexed: 06/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Excitation energy transfer (EET) is a key photoinduced process in biological chromophoric assemblies. Here we investigate the factors which can drive EET into efficient ultrafast sub-ps regimes. We demonstrate how a coherent transport of electronic population could facilitate this in water solvated NADH coenzyme and uncover the role of an intermediate dark charge-transfer state. High temporal resolution ultrafast optical spectroscopy gives a 54±11 fs time constant for the EET process. Nonadiabatic quantum dynamical simulations computed through the time-evolution of multidimensional wavepackets suggest that the population transfer is mediated by photoexcited molecular vibrations due to strong coupling between the electronic states. The polar aqueous solvent environment leads to the active participation of a dark charge transfer state, accelerating the vibronically coherent EET process in favorably stacked conformers and solvent cavities. Our work demonstrates how the interplay of structural and environmental factors leads to diverse pathways for the EET process in flexible heterodimers and provides general insights relevant for coherent EET processes in stacked multichromophoric aggregates like DNA strands.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vishal Kumar Jaiswal
- Dipartimento di Chimica industriale "Toso Montanari", Università di Bologna, Viale del Risorgimento 4, 40136, Bologna, Italy
| | - Daniel Aranda Ruiz
- ICMol, Universidad de Valencia, Catedrático José Beltrán Martínez, 2, 46980, Paterna, Spain
| | - Vasilis Petropoulos
- Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133, Milano, Italy
| | - Piotr Kabaciński
- Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133, Milano, Italy
| | - Francesco Montorsi
- Dipartimento di Chimica industriale "Toso Montanari", Università di Bologna, Viale del Risorgimento 4, 40136, Bologna, Italy
| | - Lorenzo Uboldi
- Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133, Milano, Italy
| | - Simone Ugolini
- Dipartimento di Chimica industriale "Toso Montanari", Università di Bologna, Viale del Risorgimento 4, 40136, Bologna, Italy
| | - Shaul Mukamel
- Department of Chemistry and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA
| | - Giulio Cerullo
- Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133, Milano, Italy.
| | - Marco Garavelli
- Dipartimento di Chimica industriale "Toso Montanari", Università di Bologna, Viale del Risorgimento 4, 40136, Bologna, Italy.
| | - Fabrizio Santoro
- Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organometallici (ICCOM-CNR), Area della Ricerca del CNR, Via Moruzzi 1, I-56124, Pisa, Italy
| | - Artur Nenov
- Dipartimento di Chimica industriale "Toso Montanari", Università di Bologna, Viale del Risorgimento 4, 40136, Bologna, Italy.
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2
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Martinez-Fernandez L, Improta R. The photophysics of protonated cytidine and hemiprotonated cytidine base pair: A computational study. Photochem Photobiol 2024; 100:314-322. [PMID: 37409732 DOI: 10.1111/php.13832] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2023] [Revised: 05/25/2023] [Accepted: 06/19/2023] [Indexed: 07/07/2023]
Abstract
We here study the effect that a lowering of the pH has on the excited state processes of cytidine and a cytidine/cytidine pair in solution, by integrating time-dependent density functional theory and CASSCF/CASPT2 calculations, and including solvent by a mixed discrete/continuum model. Our calculations reproduce the effect of protonation at N3 on the steady-state infrared and absorption spectra of a protonated cytidine (CH+ ), and predict that an easily accessible non-radiative deactivation route exists for the spectroscopic state, explaining its sub-ps lifetime. Indeed, an extremely small energy barrier separates the minimum of the lowest energy bright state from a crossing region with the ground electronic state, reached by out-of-plane motion of the hydrogen substituents of the CC double bond, the so-called ethylenic conical intersection typical of cytidine and other pyrimidine bases. This deactivation route is operative for the two bases forming an hemiprotonated cytidine base pair, [CH·C]+ , the building blocks of I-motif secondary structures, whereas interbase processes play a minor role. N3 protonation disfavors instead the nπ* transitions, associated with the long-living components of cytidine photoactivated dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lara Martinez-Fernandez
- Departamento de Química, Facultad de Ciencias and Institute for Advanced Research in Chemical Sciences (IADCHEM), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus de Excelencia UAM-CSIC, Madrid, Spain
| | - Roberto Improta
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Biostrutture e Bioimmagini (IBB-CNR), Naples, Italy
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3
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Cuéllar-Zuquin J, Pepino AJ, Fdez. Galván I, Rivalta I, Aquilante F, Garavelli M, Lindh R, Segarra-Martí J. Characterizing Conical Intersections in DNA/RNA Nucleobases with Multiconfigurational Wave Functions of Varying Active Space Size. J Chem Theory Comput 2023; 19:8258-8272. [PMID: 37882796 PMCID: PMC10851440 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.3c00577] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2023] [Revised: 10/13/2023] [Accepted: 10/13/2023] [Indexed: 10/27/2023]
Abstract
We characterize the photochemically relevant conical intersections between the lowest-lying accessible electronic excited states of the different DNA/RNA nucleobases using Cholesky decomposition-based complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) algorithms. We benchmark two different basis set contractions and several active spaces for each nucleobase and conical intersection type, measuring for the first time how active space size affects conical intersection topographies in these systems and the potential implications these may have toward their description of photoinduced phenomena. Our results show that conical intersection topographies are highly sensitive to the electron correlation included in the model: by changing the amount (and type) of correlated orbitals, conical intersection topographies vastly change, and the changes observed do not follow any converging pattern toward the topographies obtained with the largest and most correlated active spaces. Comparison across systems shows analogous topographies for almost all intersections mediating population transfer to the dark 1nO/Nπ* states, while no similarities are observed for the "ethylene-like" conical intersection ascribed to mediate the ultrafast decay component to the ground state in all DNA/RNA nucleobases. Basis set size seems to have a minor effect, appearing to be relevant only for purine-based derivatives. We rule out structural changes as a key factor in classifying the different conical intersections, which display almost identical geometries across active space and basis set change, and we highlight instead the importance of correctly describing the electronic states involved at these crossing points. Our work shows that careful active space selection is essential to accurately describe conical intersection topographies and therefore to adequately account for their active role in molecular photochemistry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juliana Cuéllar-Zuquin
- Instituto
de Ciencia Molecular, Universitat de Valencia, P.O. Box 22085, ES-46071 Valencia, Spain
| | - Ana Julieta Pepino
- Dipartimento
di Chimica Industriale “Toso Montanari”, Università di Bologna, Viale del Risorgimento 4, I-40136 Bologna, Italy
| | - Ignacio Fdez. Galván
- Department
of Chemistry − BMC, Uppsala University, P.O. Box 576, SE-75123 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Ivan Rivalta
- Dipartimento
di Chimica Industriale “Toso Montanari”, Università di Bologna, Viale del Risorgimento 4, I-40136 Bologna, Italy
- ENSL,
CNRS, Laboratoire de Chimie UMR 5182, 46 Allée d’Italie, 69364 Lyon, France
| | - Francesco Aquilante
- Theory
and Simulation of Materials (THEOS), and National Centre for Computational
Design and Discovery of Novel Materials (MARVEL), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Marco Garavelli
- Dipartimento
di Chimica Industriale “Toso Montanari”, Università di Bologna, Viale del Risorgimento 4, I-40136 Bologna, Italy
| | - Roland Lindh
- Department
of Chemistry − BMC, Uppsala University, P.O. Box 576, SE-75123 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Javier Segarra-Martí
- Instituto
de Ciencia Molecular, Universitat de Valencia, P.O. Box 22085, ES-46071 Valencia, Spain
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4
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Segatta F, Ruiz DA, Aleotti F, Yaghoubi M, Mukamel S, Garavelli M, Santoro F, Nenov A. Nonlinear Molecular Electronic Spectroscopy via MCTDH Quantum Dynamics: From Exact to Approximate Expressions. J Chem Theory Comput 2023; 19:2075-2091. [PMID: 36961952 PMCID: PMC10100531 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.2c01059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/26/2023]
Abstract
We present an accurate and efficient approach to computing the linear and nonlinear optical spectroscopy of a closed quantum system subject to impulsive interactions with an incident electromagnetic field. It incorporates the effect of ultrafast nonadiabatic dynamics by means of explicit numerical propagation of the nuclear wave packet. The fundamental expressions for the evaluation of first- and higher-order response functions are recast in a general form that can be used with any quantum dynamics code capable of computing the overlap of nuclear wave packets evolving in different states. Here we present the evaluation of these expressions with the multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree (MCTDH) method. Application is made to pyrene, excited to its lowest bright excited state S2 which exhibits a sub-100-fs nonadiabatic decay to a dark state S1. The system is described by a linear vibronic coupling Hamiltonian, parametrized with multiconfiguration electronic structure methods. We show that the ultrafast nonadiabatic dynamics can have a remarkable effect on the spectral line shapes that goes beyond simple lifetime broadening. Furthermore, a widely employed approximate expression based on the time scale separation of dephasing and population relaxation is recast in the same theoretical framework. Application to pyrene shows the range of validity of such approximations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesco Segatta
- Dipartimento di Chimica Industriale "Toso Montanari", University of Bologna, Viale del Risorgimento, 4, 40136 Bologna, Italy
| | - Daniel Aranda Ruiz
- ICMol, Universidad de Valencia, Catedrático José Beltrán Martínez, 2, 46980 Paterna, Spain
- Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organometallici (ICCOM-CNR), Area della Ricerca del CNR, Via Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Flavia Aleotti
- Dipartimento di Chimica Industriale "Toso Montanari", University of Bologna, Viale del Risorgimento, 4, 40136 Bologna, Italy
| | - Martha Yaghoubi
- Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organometallici (ICCOM-CNR), Area della Ricerca del CNR, Via Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Shaul Mukamel
- Department of Chemistry and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, United States
| | - Marco Garavelli
- Dipartimento di Chimica Industriale "Toso Montanari", University of Bologna, Viale del Risorgimento, 4, 40136 Bologna, Italy
| | - Fabrizio Santoro
- Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organometallici (ICCOM-CNR), Area della Ricerca del CNR, Via Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Artur Nenov
- Dipartimento di Chimica Industriale "Toso Montanari", University of Bologna, Viale del Risorgimento, 4, 40136 Bologna, Italy
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5
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Cerezo J, García-Iriepa C, Santoro F, Navizet I, Prampolini G. Unraveling the contributions to the spectral shape of flexible dyes in solution: insights on the absorption spectrum of an oxyluciferin analogue. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2023; 25:5007-5020. [PMID: 36722876 DOI: 10.1039/d2cp05701h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
We present a computational investigation of the absorption spectrum in water of 5,5-spirocyclopropyl-oxyluciferin (5,5-CprOxyLH), an analogue of the emitter compound responsible for the bioluminescence in fireflies. Several factors participate in determining the 5,5-CprOxyLH's spectral shape: (i) the contribution of the four close-energy excited states, which show significant non-adiabatic couplings, (ii) the flexible molecular structure and (iii) the specific interactions established with the surrounding environment, which strongly couple the protic solvent dynamics with the dye's spectral response. To tackle the challenge to capture and dissect the role of all these effects we preliminarily investigate the role of non-adiabatic couplings with quantum dynamics simulations and a linear vibronic coupling model in the gas phase. Then, we account for both the molecular flexibility and solvent interactions by resorting to a mixed quantum classical protocol, named Adiabatic Molecular Dynamics generalized Vertical Gradient (Ad-MD|gVG), which is built on a method recently proposed by some of us. It is rooted in the partition between stiff degrees of freedom of the dye, accounted for at the vibronic level within the harmonic approximation, and flexible degrees of freedom of the solute (and of the solvent), described classically through a sampling based on Molecular Dynamics (MD). Ad-MD|gVG avoids spurious effects arising in the excited state Hessians due to non-adiabatic couplings, and can therefore be applied to account for the contributions of the first four excited states to the 5,5-CprOxyLH absorption spectrum. The final simulated spectrum is in very good agreement with the experiment, especially when the MD is driven by a refined quantum-mechanically derived force-field. More importantly, the origin of each separate contribution to the spectral shape is appropriately accounted for, paving the way to future applications of the method to more complex systems or alternative spectroscopies, as emission or circular dichroism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Javier Cerezo
- Departamento de Química and Institute for Advanced Research in Chemical Sciences (IAdChem), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain. .,CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organo Metallici (ICCOM-CNR), SS di Pisa, Area della Ricerca, via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy.
| | - Cristina García-Iriepa
- Universidad de Alcalá, Departamento de Química Analítica, Química Física e Ingeniería Química, Grupo de Reactividad y Estructura Molecular (RESMOL), 28806 Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), Spain. .,Universidad de Alcalá, Instituto de Investigación Química "Andrés M. del Río" (IQAR), 28806 Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), Spain
| | - Fabrizio Santoro
- CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organo Metallici (ICCOM-CNR), SS di Pisa, Area della Ricerca, via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy.
| | - Isabelle Navizet
- Univ Gustave Eiffel, Univ Paris Est Creteil, CNRS, UMR 8208, MSME, F-77454 Marne-la-Vallée, France
| | - Giacomo Prampolini
- CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organo Metallici (ICCOM-CNR), SS di Pisa, Area della Ricerca, via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy.
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6
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Green JA, Gómez S, Worth G, Santoro F, Improta R. Solvent Effects on Ultrafast Charge Transfer Population: Insights from the Quantum Dynamics of Guanine-Cytosine in Chloroform. Chemistry 2022; 28:e202201731. [PMID: 35950519 PMCID: PMC9828530 DOI: 10.1002/chem.202201731] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
We study the ultrafast photoactivated dynamics of the hydrogen bonded dimer Guanine-Cytosine in chloroform solution, focusing on the population of the Guanine→Cytosine charge transfer state (GC-CT), an important elementary process for the photophysics and photochemistry of nucleic acids. We integrate a quantum dynamics propagation scheme, based on a linear vibronic model parameterized through time dependent density functional theory calculations, with four different solvation models, either implicit or explicit. On average, after 50 fs, 30∼40 % of the bright excited state population has been transferred to GC-CT. This process is thus fast and effective, especially when transferring from the Guanine bright excited states, in line with the available experimental studies. Independent of the adopted solvation model, the population of GC-CT is however disfavoured in solution with respect to the gas phase. We show that dynamical solvation effects are responsible for this puzzling result and assess the different chemical-physical effects modulating the population of CT states on the ultrafast time-scale. We also propose some simple analyses to predict how solvent can affect the population transfer between bright and CT states, showing that the effect of the solute/solvent electrostatic interactions on the energy of the CT state can provide a rather reliable indication of its possible population.
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Affiliation(s)
- James A. Green
- Istituto di Biostrutture e Bioimmagini-CNRVia De Amicis 95I-80145Napoli
| | - Sandra Gómez
- Department of ChemistryUniversity College London20 Gordon StreetLondonWC1H 0AJUnited Kingdom,Departamento de Química FísicaUniversity of SalamancaSalamanca37008Spain
| | - Graham Worth
- Department of ChemistryUniversity College London20 Gordon StreetLondonWC1H 0AJUnited Kingdom
| | - Fabrizio Santoro
- Istituto di Chimica die Composti Organometallici (ICCOM-CNR), Area della Ricerca del CNRVia Moruzzi 1I-56124Pisa
| | - Roberto Improta
- Istituto di Biostrutture e Bioimmagini-CNRVia De Amicis 95I-80145Napoli
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7
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Xu Q, Aranda D, Yaghoubi Jouybari M, Liu Y, Wang M, Cerezo J, Improta R, Santoro F. Nonadiabatic Vibrational Resonance Raman Spectra from Quantum Dynamics Propagations with LVC Models. Application to Thymine. J Phys Chem A 2022; 126:7468-7479. [PMID: 36099554 PMCID: PMC9596142 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.2c05271] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
![]()
We present a viable protocol to compute vibrational resonance
Raman
(vRR) spectra for systems with several close-lying and potentially
coupled electronic states. It is based on the parametrization of linear
vibronic coupling (LVC) models from time-dependent density functional
theory (TD-DFT) calculations and quantum dynamics propagations of
vibronic wavepackets with the multilayer version of the multiconfiguration
time-dependent Hartree (ML-MCTDH) method. Our approach is applied
to thymine considering seven coupled electronic states, comprising
the three lowest bright states, and all vibrational coordinates. Computed
vRR at different excitation wavelengths are in good agreement with
the available experimental data. Up to 250 nm the signal is dominated
by the lowest HOMO → LUMO transition, whereas at 233 nm, in
the valley between the two lowest energy absorption bands, the contributions
of all the three bright states, and their interferences and couplings,
are important. Inclusion of solvent (water) effects improves the agreement
with experiment, reproducing the coalescence of vibrational bands
due to CC and C=O stretchings. With our approach we disentangle
and assess the effect of interferences between the contribution of
different quasi-resonant states to the transition polarizability and
the effect of interstate couplings. Our findings strongly suggest
that in cases of close-lying and potentially coupled states a simple
inclusion of interference effects is not sufficient, and a fully nonadiabatic
computation should instead be performed. We also document that for
systems with strong couplings and quasi-degenerate states, the use
of HT perturbative approach, not designed for these cases, may lead
to large artifacts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiushuang Xu
- School of Physics and Optoelectronics Engineering, Ludong University, 264025 Yantai, Shandong, PR China.,School of Physics Engineering, Qufu Normal University, 2673100 Qufu, Shandong, PR China.,Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organo Metallici (ICCOM-CNR), SS di Pisa, Area della Ricerca, via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Daniel Aranda
- Instituto de Ciencia Molecular (ICMol)., Universidad de Valencia, c/Catedrático José Beltrán, 2, 46980 Paterna, Spain
| | - Martha Yaghoubi Jouybari
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organo Metallici (ICCOM-CNR), SS di Pisa, Area della Ricerca, via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Yanli Liu
- School of Physics and Optoelectronics Engineering, Ludong University, 264025 Yantai, Shandong, PR China
| | - Meishan Wang
- School of Physics and Optoelectronics Engineering, Ludong University, 264025 Yantai, Shandong, PR China
| | - Javier Cerezo
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organo Metallici (ICCOM-CNR), SS di Pisa, Area della Ricerca, via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy.,Departamento de Química, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain
| | - Roberto Improta
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Biostrutture e Bioimmagini (IBB-CNR), Via De Amicis 95, I-80145 Napoli, Italy.,DTU Chemistry, Technical University of Denmark, Kemitorvet Bldg 207, DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Fabrizio Santoro
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organo Metallici (ICCOM-CNR), SS di Pisa, Area della Ricerca, via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
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8
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Hu Z, Sun X. All-Atom Nonadiabatic Semiclassical Mapping Dynamics for Photoinduced Charge Transfer of Organic Photovoltaic Molecules in Explicit Solvents. J Chem Theory Comput 2022; 18:5819-5836. [PMID: 36073792 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.2c00631] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Direct all-atom simulation of nonadiabatic dynamics in disordered condensed phases like liquid solutions and amorphous solids has been challenging. The first all-atom simulation of the photoinduced charge-transfer dynamics of a prototypical organic photovoltaic carotenoid-porphyrin-C60 molecular triad in explicit tetrahydrofuran is presented. Based on the Meyer-Miller mapping Hamiltonian, various semiclassical and mixed quantum-classical dynamics are employed, including the linearized semiclassical, symmetrical quasiclassical, mean-field Ehrenfest, classical mapping model, and spin-mapping model approaches. The all-atom nonadiabatic dynamics were compared to multi-state harmonic models with a globally shared bath, and the models built using the ensemble averages on the initial electronic state could reproduce the all-atom results. The solvent effect was found to be critical for the photoinduced charge transfer, and the time-dependent solute-solvent radial distribution functions revealed that only the nonadiabatic dynamics started with the effective forces on the initial electronic state could capture the correct nuclear dynamics. The proposed strategy for modeling condensed-phase nonadiabatic dynamics with atomistic details is readily applied to complex condensed-phase systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhubin Hu
- Division of Arts and Sciences, New York University Shanghai, 1555 Century Avenue, Shanghai 200122, China.,NYU-ECNU Center for Computational Chemistry, New York University Shanghai, 3663 Zhongshan Road North, Shanghai 200062, China.,State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Xiang Sun
- Division of Arts and Sciences, New York University Shanghai, 1555 Century Avenue, Shanghai 200122, China.,NYU-ECNU Center for Computational Chemistry, New York University Shanghai, 3663 Zhongshan Road North, Shanghai 200062, China.,State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.,Department of Chemistry, New York University, New York, New York 10003, United States
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9
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Valverde D, Mai S, Canuto S, Borin AC, González L. Ultrafast Intersystem Crossing Dynamics of 6-Selenoguanine in Water. JACS AU 2022; 2:1699-1711. [PMID: 35911449 PMCID: PMC9327080 DOI: 10.1021/jacsau.2c00250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Rationalizing the photochemistry of nucleobases where an oxygen is replaced by a heavier atom is essential for applications that exploit near-unity triplet quantum yields. Herein, we report on the ultrafast excited-state deactivation mechanism of 6-selenoguanine (6SeGua) in water by combining nonadiabatic trajectory surface-hopping dynamics with an electrostatic embedding quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) scheme. We find that the predominant relaxation mechanism after irradiation starts on the bright singlet S2 state that converts internally to the dark S1 state, from which the population is transferred to the triplet T2 state via intersystem crossing and finally to the lowest T1 state. This S2 → S1 → T2 → T1 deactivation pathway is similar to that observed for the lighter 6-thioguanine (6tGua) analogue, but counterintuitively, the T1 lifetime of the heavier 6SeGua is shorter than that of 6tGua. This fact is explained by the smaller activation barrier to reach the T1/S0 crossing point and the larger spin-orbit couplings of 6SeGua compared to 6tGua. From the dynamical simulations, we also calculate transient absorption spectra (TAS), which provide two time constants (τ1 = 131 fs and τ2 = 191 fs) that are in excellent agreement with the experimentally reported value (τexp = 130 ± 50 fs) (Farrel et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 11214). Intersystem crossing itself is calculated to occur with a time scale of 452 ± 38 fs, highlighting that the TAS is the result of a complex average of signals coming from different nonradiative processes and not intersystem crossing alone.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danillo Valverde
- Department
of Fundamental Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, University of São Paulo, Avenida Professor Lineu Prestes, 748, São Paulo, São Paulo CEP 05508-000, Brazil
- Institute
of Physics, University of São Paulo, Rua do Matão 1371, São Paulo, São Paulo CEP 05508-090, Brazil
| | - Sebastian Mai
- Institute
of Theoretical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Vienna, Währinger Straße 17, Vienna 1090, Austria
| | - Sylvio Canuto
- Institute
of Physics, University of São Paulo, Rua do Matão 1371, São Paulo, São Paulo CEP 05508-090, Brazil
| | - Antonio Carlos Borin
- Department
of Fundamental Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, University of São Paulo, Avenida Professor Lineu Prestes, 748, São Paulo, São Paulo CEP 05508-000, Brazil
| | - Leticia González
- Institute
of Theoretical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Vienna, Währinger Straße 17, Vienna 1090, Austria
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10
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Martínez Fernández L, Santoro F, Improta R. Nucleic Acids as a Playground for the Computational Study of the Photophysics and Photochemistry of Multichromophore Assemblies. Acc Chem Res 2022; 55:2077-2087. [PMID: 35833758 DOI: 10.1021/acs.accounts.2c00256] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
ConspectusThe interaction between light and multichromophoric assemblies (MCAs) is the primary event of many fundamental processes, from photosynthesis to organic photovoltaics, and it triggers dynamical processes that share remarkable similarities at the molecular scale: light absorption, energy and charge transfer, internal conversions, emission, and so on. Those events often involve many chromophores and different excited electronic states that are coupled on an ultrafast time scale. This Account aims to discuss some of the chemical physical effects ruling these processes, a fundamental step toward their control, based on our experience on nucleic acids.In the last 15 years, we have, indeed, studied the photophysics and photochemistry of DNA and its components. By combining different quantum mechanical methods, we investigated the molecular processes responsible for the damage of the genetic code or, on the contrary, those preventing it by dissipating the excess energy deposited in the system by UV absorption. Independently of its fundamental biological role, DNA, with its fluctuating closely stacked bases stabilized by weak nonbonding interactions, can be considered a prototypical MCA. Therefore, it allows one to tackle within a single system many of the conceptual and methodological challenges involved in the study of photoinduced processes in MCA.In this Account, by using the outcome of our studies on oligonucleotides as a guideline, we thus highlight the most critical modellistic issues to be faced when studying, either experimentally or computationally, the interaction between UV light and DNA and, at the same time, bring out their general relevance for the study of MCAs.We first discuss the rich photoactivated dynamics of nucleobases (the chromophores), highlighting the main effects modulating the interplay between their excited states and how the latter can affect the photoactivated dynamics of the polynucleotides, either providing effective monomer-like nonradiative decay routes or triggering reactive processes (e.g., triplet generation).We then tackle the reaction paths involving multiple bases, showing that in the DNA duplex the most important ones involve two stacked bases, forming a neutral excimer or a charge transfer (CT) state, which exhibit different spectral signatures and photochemical reactivity. In particular, we analyze the factors affecting the dynamic equilibrium between the excimer and CT, such as the fluctuations of the backbone or the rearrangement of the solvent.Next, we highlight the importance of the effects not directly connected to the chromophores, such as the flexibility of the backbone or the solvent effect. The former, affecting the stacking geometry of the bases, can determine the preference between different deactivation paths. The latter is particularly influential for CT states, making very important an accurate treatment of dynamical solvation effects, involving both the solvent bulk and specific solute-solvent interactions.In the last section, we describe the main methodological challenges related to the study of polynucleotide excited states and stress the benefits derived by the integration of complementary approaches, both computational and experimental. Only exploiting different point of views, in our opinion, it is possible to shed light on the complex phenomena triggered by light absorption in DNA, as in every MCA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lara Martínez Fernández
- Departamento de Química, Facultad de Ciencias and Institute for Advanced Research in Chemistry (IADCHEM), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus de Excelencia UAM-CSIC, 28049 Madrid, Spain
| | - Fabrizio Santoro
- Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organometallici (ICCOM-CNR), Area della Ricerca del CNR, Via Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Roberto Improta
- Istituto di Biostrutture e Bioimmagini-CNR (IBB-CNR), Via De Amicis 95, I-80145 Napoli, Italy
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11
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Segalina A, Aranda D, Green JA, Cristino V, Caramori S, Prampolini G, Pastore M, Santoro F. How the Interplay among Conformational Disorder, Solvation, Local, and Charge-Transfer Excitations Affects the Absorption Spectrum and Photoinduced Dynamics of Perylene Diimide Dimers: A Molecular Dynamics/Quantum Vibronic Approach. J Chem Theory Comput 2022; 18:3718-3736. [PMID: 35377648 PMCID: PMC9202308 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.2c00063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
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In this contribution
we present a mixed quantum-classical dynamical
approach for the computation of vibronic absorption spectra of molecular
aggregates and their nonadiabatic dynamics, taking into account the
coupling between local excitations (LE) and charge-transfer (CT) states.
The approach is based on an adiabatic (Ad) separation between the
soft degrees of freedom (DoFs) of the system and the stiff vibrations,
which are described by the quantum dynamics (QD) of wave packets (WPs)
moving on the coupled potential energy surfaces (PESs) of the LE and
CT states. These PESs are described with a linear vibronic coupling
(LVC) Hamiltonian, parameterized by an overlap-based diabatization
on the grounds of time-dependent density functional theory computations.
The WPs time evolution is computed with the multiconfiguration time-dependent
Hartree method, using effective modes defined through a hierarchical
representation of the LVC Hamiltonian. The soft DoFs are sampled with
classical molecular dynamics (MD), and the coupling between the slow
and fast DoFs is included by recomputing the key parameters of the
LVC Hamiltonians, specifically for each MD configuration. This method,
named Ad-MD|gLVC, is applied to a perylene diimide (PDI) dimer in
acetonitrile and water solutions, and it is shown to accurately reproduce
the change in the vibronic features of the absorption spectrum upon
aggregation. Moreover, the microscopic insight offered by the MD trajectories
allows for a detailed understanding of the role played by the fluctuation
of the aggregate structure on the shape of the vibronic spectrum and
on the population of LE and CT states. The nonadiabatic QD predicts
an extremely fast (∼50 fs) energy transfer between the two
LEs. CT states have only a moderate effect on the absorption spectrum,
despite the fact that after photoexcitation they are shown to acquire
a fast and non-negligible population, highlighting their relevance
in dictating the charge separation and transport in PDI-based optical
devices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alekos Segalina
- Université de Lorraine and CNRS, LPCT, UMR 7019, F-54000 Nancy, France
| | - Daniel Aranda
- Instituto de Ciencia Molecular (ICMol), Universidad de Valencia, Catedrático J. Beltrán 2, 46980 Paterna, Valencia, Spain
| | - James A Green
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Biostrutture e Bioimmagini (IBB-CNR), via Mezzocannone 16, I-80136 Napoli, Italy
| | - Vito Cristino
- Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Farmaceutiche ed Agrarie, Via Fossato di Mortara 17, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
| | - Stefano Caramori
- Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Farmaceutiche ed Agrarie, Via Fossato di Mortara 17, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
| | - Giacomo Prampolini
- Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organo Metallici, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, (ICCOM-CNR), SS di Pisa, Area della Ricerca, via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
| | | | - Fabrizio Santoro
- Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organo Metallici, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, (ICCOM-CNR), SS di Pisa, Area della Ricerca, via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
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12
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Absorption and stationary fluorescent spectra of molecular sensors in solution: A computational study. COMPUT THEOR CHEM 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.comptc.2022.113596] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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13
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Zobel JP, González L. The Quest to Simulate Excited-State Dynamics of Transition Metal Complexes. JACS AU 2021; 1:1116-1140. [PMID: 34467353 PMCID: PMC8397362 DOI: 10.1021/jacsau.1c00252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2021] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
This Perspective describes current computational efforts in the field of simulating photodynamics of transition metal complexes. We present the typical workflows and feature the strengths and limitations of the different contemporary approaches. From electronic structure methods suitable to describe transition metal complexes to approaches able to simulate their nuclear dynamics under the effect of light, we give particular attention to build a bridge between theory and experiment by critically discussing the different models commonly adopted in the interpretation of spectroscopic experiments and the simulation of particular observables. Thereby, we review all the studies of excited-state dynamics on transition metal complexes, both in gas phase and in solution from reduced to full dimensionality.
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Affiliation(s)
- J. Patrick Zobel
- Institute
of Theoretical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Vienna, Währingerstr. 19, 1090 Vienna Austria
| | - Leticia González
- Institute
of Theoretical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Vienna, Währingerstr. 19, 1090 Vienna Austria
- Vienna
Research Platform on Accelerating Photoreaction Discovery, University of Vienna, Währingerstr. 19, 1090 Vienna Austria
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14
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Green JA, Yaghoubi Jouybari M, Asha H, Santoro F, Improta R. Fragment Diabatization Linear Vibronic Coupling Model for Quantum Dynamics of Multichromophoric Systems: Population of the Charge-Transfer State in the Photoexcited Guanine-Cytosine Pair. J Chem Theory Comput 2021; 17:4660-4674. [PMID: 34270258 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.1c00416] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
We introduce a method (FrD-LVC) based on a fragment diabatization (FrD) for the parametrization of a linear vibronic coupling (LVC) model suitable for studying the photophysics of multichromophore systems. In combination with effective quantum dynamics (QD) propagations with multilayer multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree (ML-MCTDH), the FrD-LVC approach gives access to the study of the competition between intrachromophore decays, like those at conical intersections, and interchromophore processes, like exciton localization/delocalization and the involvement of charge-transfer (CT) states. We used FrD-LVC parametrized with time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations, adopting either CAM-B3LYP or ωB97X-D functionals, to study the ultrafast photoexcited QD of a guanine-cytosine (GC) hydrogen-bonded pair, within a Watson-Crick arrangement, considering up to 12 coupled diabatic electronic states and the effect of all of the 99 vibrational coordinates. The bright excited states localized on C and, especially, on G are predicted to be strongly coupled to the G → C CT state, which is efficiently and quickly populated after an excitation to any of the four lowest energy bright local excited states. Our QD simulations show that more than 80% of the excited population on G and ∼50% of that on C decay to this CT state in less than 50 fs. We investigate the role of vibronic effects in the population of the CT state and show that it depends mainly on its large reorganization energy so that it can occur even when it is significantly less stable than the bright states in the Franck-Condon region. At the same time, we document that the formation of the GC pair almost suppresses the involvement of dark nπ* excited states in the photoactivated dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- James A Green
- Istituto di Biostrutture e Bioimmagini (IBB-CNR), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, via Mezzocannone 16, I-80136 Napoli, Italy
| | - Martha Yaghoubi Jouybari
- Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organo Metallici (ICCOM-CNR), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, SS di Pisa, Area della Ricerca, via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Haritha Asha
- Istituto di Biostrutture e Bioimmagini (IBB-CNR), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, via Mezzocannone 16, I-80136 Napoli, Italy
| | - Fabrizio Santoro
- Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organo Metallici (ICCOM-CNR), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, SS di Pisa, Area della Ricerca, via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Roberto Improta
- Istituto di Biostrutture e Bioimmagini (IBB-CNR), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, via Mezzocannone 16, I-80136 Napoli, Italy
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15
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Santoro F, Green JA, Martinez-Fernandez L, Cerezo J, Improta R. Quantum and semiclassical dynamical studies of nonadiabatic processes in solution: achievements and perspectives. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2021; 23:8181-8199. [PMID: 33875988 DOI: 10.1039/d0cp05907b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
We concisely review the main methodological approaches to model nonadiabatic dynamics in isotropic solutions and their applications. Three general classes of models are identified as the most used to include solvent effects in the simulations. The first model describes the solvent as a set of harmonic collective modes coupled to the solute degrees of freedom, and the second as a continuum, while the third explicitly includes solvent molecules in the calculations. The issues related to the use of these models in semiclassical and quantum dynamical simulations are discussed, as well as the main limitations and perspectives of each approach.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabrizio Santoro
- CNR-Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organo Metallici (ICCOM-CNR), SS di Pisa, Area della Ricerca, via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy.
| | - James A Green
- CNR-Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Biostrutture e Bioimmagini (IBB-CNR), via Mezzocannone 16, I-80136 Napoli, Italy.
| | - Lara Martinez-Fernandez
- Departamento de Química, Facultad de Ciencias and Institute for Advanced Research in Chemistry (IADCHEM), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus de Excelencia UAM-CSIC, 28049 Madrid, Spain
| | - Javier Cerezo
- Departamento de Química, Facultad de Ciencias and Institute for Advanced Research in Chemistry (IADCHEM), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus de Excelencia UAM-CSIC, 28049 Madrid, Spain
| | - Roberto Improta
- CNR-Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Biostrutture e Bioimmagini (IBB-CNR), via Mezzocannone 16, I-80136 Napoli, Italy.
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16
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Green JA, Jouybari MY, Aranda D, Improta R, Santoro F. Nonadiabatic Absorption Spectra and Ultrafast Dynamics of DNA and RNA Photoexcited Nucleobases. Molecules 2021; 26:1743. [PMID: 33804640 PMCID: PMC8003674 DOI: 10.3390/molecules26061743] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2021] [Revised: 03/12/2021] [Accepted: 03/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
We have recently proposed a protocol for Quantum Dynamics (QD) calculations, which is based on a parameterisation of Linear Vibronic Coupling (LVC) Hamiltonians with Time Dependent (TD) Density Functional Theory (TD-DFT), and exploits the latest developments in multiconfigurational TD-Hartree methods for an effective wave packet propagation. In this contribution we explore the potentialities of this approach to compute nonadiabatic vibronic spectra and ultrafast dynamics, by applying it to the five nucleobases present in DNA and RNA. For all of them we computed the absorption spectra and the dynamics of ultrafast internal conversion (100 fs timescale), fully coupling the first 2-3 bright states and all the close by dark states, for a total of 6-9 states, and including all the normal coordinates. We adopted two different functionals, CAM-B3LYP and PBE0, and tested the effect of the basis set. Computed spectra are in good agreement with the available experimental data, remarkably improving over pure electronic computations, but also with respect to vibronic spectra obtained neglecting inter-state couplings. Our QD simulations indicate an effective population transfer from the lowest energy bright excited states to the close-lying dark excited states for uracil, thymine and adenine. Dynamics from higher-energy states show an ultrafast depopulation toward the more stable ones. The proposed protocol is sufficiently general and automatic to promise to become useful for widespread applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- James A. Green
- CNR—Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Biostrutture e Bioimmagini (IBB-CNR), Via Mezzocannone 16, I-80136 Napoli, Italy;
| | - Martha Yaghoubi Jouybari
- CNR—Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche, Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organo Metallici (ICCOM-CNR), SS di Pisa, Area Della Ricerca, Via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy; (M.Y.J.); (D.A.)
| | - Daniel Aranda
- CNR—Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche, Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organo Metallici (ICCOM-CNR), SS di Pisa, Area Della Ricerca, Via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy; (M.Y.J.); (D.A.)
| | - Roberto Improta
- CNR—Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Biostrutture e Bioimmagini (IBB-CNR), Via Mezzocannone 16, I-80136 Napoli, Italy;
| | - Fabrizio Santoro
- CNR—Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche, Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organo Metallici (ICCOM-CNR), SS di Pisa, Area Della Ricerca, Via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy; (M.Y.J.); (D.A.)
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17
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Aleotti F, Aranda D, Yaghoubi Jouybari M, Garavelli M, Nenov A, Santoro F. Parameterization of a linear vibronic coupling model with multiconfigurational electronic structure methods to study the quantum dynamics of photoexcited pyrene. J Chem Phys 2021; 154:104106. [PMID: 33722019 DOI: 10.1063/5.0044693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
With this work, we present a protocol for the parameterization of a Linear Vibronic Coupling (LVC) Hamiltonian for quantum dynamics using highly accurate multiconfigurational electronic structure methods such as RASPT2/RASSCF, combined with a maximum-overlap diabatization technique. Our approach is fully portable and can be applied to many medium-size rigid molecules whose excited state dynamics requires a quantum description. We present our model and discuss the details of the electronic structure calculations needed for the parameterization, analyzing critical situations that could arise in the case of strongly interacting excited states. The protocol was applied to the simulation of the excited state dynamics of the pyrene molecule, starting from either the first or the second bright state (S2 or S5). The LVC model was benchmarked against state-of-the-art quantum mechanical calculations with optimizations and energy scans and turned out to be very accurate. The dynamics simulations, performed including all active normal coordinates with the multilayer multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree method, show good agreement with the available experimental data, endorsing prediction of the excited state mechanism, especially for S5, whose ultrafast deactivation mechanism was not yet clearly understood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Flavia Aleotti
- Dipartimento di Chimica Industriale "Toso Montanari," Università di Bologna, Viale del Risorgimento 4, 40136 Bologna, Italy
| | - Daniel Aranda
- Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organometallici (ICCOM-CNR), Area della Ricerca del CNR, Via Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Martha Yaghoubi Jouybari
- Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organometallici (ICCOM-CNR), Area della Ricerca del CNR, Via Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Marco Garavelli
- Dipartimento di Chimica Industriale "Toso Montanari," Università di Bologna, Viale del Risorgimento 4, 40136 Bologna, Italy
| | - Artur Nenov
- Dipartimento di Chimica Industriale "Toso Montanari," Università di Bologna, Viale del Risorgimento 4, 40136 Bologna, Italy
| | - Fabrizio Santoro
- Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organometallici (ICCOM-CNR), Area della Ricerca del CNR, Via Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
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18
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Yaghoubi Jouybari M, Liu Y, Improta R, Santoro F. Quantum dynamics of the ππ*/nπ* decay of the epigenetic nucleobase 1,5-dimethyl-cytosine in the gas phase. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2020; 22:26525-26535. [PMID: 33188675 DOI: 10.1039/d0cp04123h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
We study the ultrafast dynamics of 1,5-dimethyl-cytosine, a model for 5-methyl-cytidine, after photoexcitation to the first two bright ππ* states, focusing on the possible population transfer to dark nπ* states. To that end we propagate the initial wave packets on the coupled potential energy surfaces of the seven lowest energy excited states modelled with a diabatic linear vibronic coupling (LVC) model, considering all the vibrational coordinates. Time-evolution is computed by the multilayer version of the multiconfigurational time dependent Hartree (ML-MCTDH) method. The LVC Hamiltonian is parametrized with time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations adopting PBE0 and CAM-B3LYP functionals, which provide a different energy gap between the lowest energy nπ* states and the spectroscopic ππ* state. Population of the lowest ππ* flows to a dark nπ* state which involves a lone pair (LP) of the carbonyl oxygen (nOπ*), but the extent of such transfer is much larger according to PBE0 than to CAM-B3LYP. Photoexcitation to the second bright state gives rise to much richer dynamics with an ultrafast (50 fs) complete decay to the lowest ππ*, to nOπ* and to another nπ* in which the excited electron comes from the LP of the ring nitrogen. We perform a detailed analysis of the vibronic dynamics both in terms of normal modes and valence coordinates (bond lengths and angles). The comparison with the analogous dynamics in 1-methyl-cytosine, a model for cytidine, provides insights into the effect of methylation at carbon 5 on the electronic and nuclear dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martha Yaghoubi Jouybari
- CNR-Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organo Metallici (ICCOM-CNR), SS di Pisa, Area della Ricerca, via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy.
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19
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Conti I, Cerullo G, Nenov A, Garavelli M. Ultrafast Spectroscopy of Photoactive Molecular Systems from First Principles: Where We Stand Today and Where We Are Going. J Am Chem Soc 2020; 142:16117-16139. [PMID: 32841559 PMCID: PMC7901644 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.0c04952] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
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Computational spectroscopy is becoming a mandatory tool for the interpretation of the
complex, and often congested, spectral maps delivered by modern non-linear multi-pulse
techniques. The fields of Electronic Structure Methods,
Non-Adiabatic Molecular Dynamics, and Theoretical
Spectroscopy represent the three pillars of the virtual ultrafast
optical spectrometer, able to deliver transient spectra in
silico from first principles. A successful simulation strategy requires a
synergistic approach that balances between the three fields, each one having its very
own challenges and bottlenecks. The aim of this Perspective is to demonstrate that,
despite these challenges, an impressive agreement between theory and experiment is
achievable now regarding the modeling of ultrafast photoinduced processes in complex
molecular architectures. Beyond that, some key recent developments in the three fields
are presented that we believe will have major impacts on spectroscopic simulations in
the very near future. Potential directions of development, pending challenges, and
rising opportunities are illustrated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irene Conti
- Dipartimento di Chimica Industriale, Università degli Studi di Bologna, Viale del Risorgimento 4, I-40136 Bologna, Italy
| | - Giulio Cerullo
- Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, IFN-CNR, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, I-20133 Milano, Italy
| | - Artur Nenov
- Dipartimento di Chimica Industriale, Università degli Studi di Bologna, Viale del Risorgimento 4, I-40136 Bologna, Italy
| | - Marco Garavelli
- Dipartimento di Chimica Industriale, Università degli Studi di Bologna, Viale del Risorgimento 4, I-40136 Bologna, Italy
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Yaghoubi Jouybari M, Liu Y, Improta R, Santoro F. Ultrafast Dynamics of the Two Lowest Bright Excited States of Cytosine and 1-Methylcytosine: A Quantum Dynamical Study. J Chem Theory Comput 2020; 16:5792-5808. [PMID: 32687360 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.0c00455] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
The nonadiabatic quantum dynamics (QD) of cytosine and 1-methylcytosine in the gas phase is simulated for 250 fs after a photoexcitation to one of the first two bright states. The nuclear wavepacket is propagated on the coupled diabatic potential energy surfaces of the lowest seven excited states, including ππ*, nπ*, and Rydberg states along all the vibrational degrees of freedom. We focus in particular on the interplay between the bright and the dark nπ* states, not considering the decay to the ground electronic state. To run these simulations, we implemented an automatic general procedure to parametrize linear vibronic coupling (LVC) models with time-dependent density functional theory (DFT) computations and interfaced it with Gaussian package. The wavepacket was propagated with the multilayer version of the multiconfigurational time dependent Hartree method. Two different density functionals, PBE0 and CAM-B3LYP, which provide a different description of the relative stability of the lowest energy dark states, were used to parametrize the LVC Hamiltonian. Part of the photoexcited population on lowest HOMO-LUMO transition (πHπL*) decays within less than 100 fs to a nπ* state which mainly involves a promotion of an electron from the oxygen lone pair to the LUMO (nOπL*). The population of the second ππ* state decays almost completely, in <100 fs, not only to πHπL* and to nOπL* states but also to another nπL* state involving the nitrogen lone pair. The efficiency of the adopted protocol allowed us to check the accuracy of the predictions by repeating the QD simulations with different LVC Hamiltonians parametrized either at the ground-state minimum or at stationary structures of different relevant excited states.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martha Yaghoubi Jouybari
- CNR-Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organo Metallici (ICCOM-CNR), SS di Pisa, Area della Ricerca, via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Yanli Liu
- School of Physics and Optoelectronics Engineering, Ludong University, 264025 Yantai, Shandong, PR China
| | - Roberto Improta
- CNR-Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Biostrutture e Bioimmagini (IBB-CNR), via Mezzocannone 16, I-80136 Napoli, Italy
| | - Fabrizio Santoro
- CNR-Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organo Metallici (ICCOM-CNR), SS di Pisa, Area della Ricerca, via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
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21
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Erickson BA, Heim ZN, Pieri E, Liu E, Martinez TJ, Neumark DM. Relaxation Dynamics of Hydrated Thymine, Thymidine, and Thymidine Monophosphate Probed by Liquid Jet Time-Resolved Photoelectron Spectroscopy. J Phys Chem A 2019; 123:10676-10684. [PMID: 31756106 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.9b08258] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The relaxation dynamics of thymine and its derivatives thymidine and thymidine monophosphate are studied using time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy applied to a water microjet. Two absorption bands are studied; the first is a bright ππ* state which is populated using tunable-ultraviolet light in the range 4.74-5.17 eV and probed using a 6.20 eV probe pulse. By reversing the order of these pulses, a band containing multiple ππ* states is populated by the 6.20 eV pulse and the lower energy pulse serves as the probe. The lower lying ππ* state is found to decay in ∼400 fs in both thymine and thymidine independent of pump photon energy, while thymidine monophosphate decays vary from 670 to 840 fs with some pump energy dependence. The application of a computational quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical scheme at the XMS-CASPT2//CASSCF/AMBER level of theory suggests that conformational differences existing between thymidine and thymidine monophosphate in solution account for this difference. The higher lying ππ* band is found to decay in ∼600 fs in all three cases, but it is only able to be characterized when the 5.17 eV probe pulse is used. Notably, no long-lived signal from an nπ* state can be identified in either experiment on any of the three molecules.
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Affiliation(s)
- Blake A Erickson
- Department of Chemistry , University of California , Berkeley , California 94720 , United States
| | - Zachary N Heim
- Department of Chemistry , University of California , Berkeley , California 94720 , United States
| | - Elisa Pieri
- Department of Chemistry , Stanford University , Stanford , California 94305 , United States
| | - Erica Liu
- Department of Chemistry , University of California , Berkeley , California 94720 , United States
| | - Todd J Martinez
- Department of Chemistry , Stanford University , Stanford , California 94305 , United States
| | - Daniel M Neumark
- Department of Chemistry , University of California , Berkeley , California 94720 , United States.,Chemical Sciences Division , Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Berkeley , California 94720 , United States
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Amadei A, Aschi M. Modelling vibrational relaxation in complex molecular systems. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2019; 21:20003-20017. [PMID: 31478042 DOI: 10.1039/c9cp03379c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
In this paper we show how it is possible to treat the quantum vibrational relaxation of a chromophore, embedded in a complex atomic-molecular environment, via the explicit solution of the time-dependent Schroedinger equation once using a proper separation between quantum and semiclassical degrees of freedom. The rigorous theoretical framework derived, based on first principles and making use of well defined approximations/assumptions, is utilized to construct a general model for the kinetics of the vibrational relaxation as obtained by the direct evaluation of the density matrix for all the relevant quantum state transitions. Application to (deuterated) N-methylacetamide (the typical benchmark used as a model for the amino acids) shows that the obtained theoretical-computational approach captures the essential features of the experimental process, unveiling the basic relaxation mechanism involving several vibrational state transitions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Amadei
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche, Università di Roma "Tor Vergata", via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma, Italy.
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Pápai M, Rozgonyi T, Penfold TJ, Nielsen MM, Møller KB. Simulation of ultrafast excited-state dynamics and elastic x-ray scattering by quantum wavepacket dynamics. J Chem Phys 2019; 151:104307. [DOI: 10.1063/1.5115204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Mátyás Pápai
- Department of Chemistry, Technical University of Denmark, Kemitorvet 207, DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Tamás Rozgonyi
- Wigner Research Centre for Physics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 49, H-1525 Budapest, Hungary
- Institute of Materials and Environmental Chemistry, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 286, H-1519 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Thomas J. Penfold
- Chemistry - School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, United Kingdom
| | - Martin M. Nielsen
- Department of Physics, Technical University of Denmark, Fysikvej 307, DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Klaus B. Møller
- Department of Chemistry, Technical University of Denmark, Kemitorvet 207, DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
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Frati F, de Groot F, Cerezo J, Santoro F, Cheng L, Faber R, Coriani S. Coupled cluster study of the x-ray absorption spectra of formaldehyde derivatives at the oxygen, carbon, and fluorine K-edges. J Chem Phys 2019. [DOI: 10.1063/1.5097650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Federica Frati
- Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, Universiteitsweg 99, 3584 GC Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Frank de Groot
- Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, Universiteitsweg 99, 3584 GC Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Javier Cerezo
- Departamento de Química, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain
| | - Fabrizio Santoro
- Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organometallici (ICCOM–CNR), Area della Ricerca del CNR, Via Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Lan Cheng
- Department of Chemistry, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA
| | - Rasmus Faber
- DTU Chemistry, Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Sonia Coriani
- DTU Chemistry, Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
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Liu Y, Martínez-Fernández L, Cerezo J, Prampolini G, Improta R, Santoro F. Multistate coupled quantum dynamics of photoexcited cytosine in gas-phase: Nonadiabatic absorption spectrum and ultrafast internal conversions. Chem Phys 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chemphys.2018.08.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
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Comparison of the results of a mean-field mixed quantum/classical method with full quantum predictions for nonadiabatic dynamics: application to the $$\pi \pi ^*/n\pi ^*$$ π π ∗ / n π ∗ decay of thymine. Theor Chem Acc 2018. [DOI: 10.1007/s00214-018-2218-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
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27
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Amadei A, Aschi M. Theoretical-computational modeling of charge transfer and intersystem crossing reactions in complex chemical systems. RSC Adv 2018; 8:27900-27918. [PMID: 35542751 PMCID: PMC9083445 DOI: 10.1039/c8ra03900c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2018] [Accepted: 07/23/2018] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
In this paper we present a theoretical-computational methodology specifically aimed at describing processes involving internal conversion or intersystem crossing, from atomistic (semiclassical) simulations and, hence, very suitable for treating complex atomic-molecular systems. The core of the presented approach is the evaluation of the diabatic perturbed energy surfaces of a portion of the whole system, treated at the quantum level and therefore preventively selected, in semi-classical interaction with the atomic-molecular environment. Subsequently, the estimation of the coupling between the diabatic surfaces and the inclusion of the obtained observables within a properly designed kinetic model allows the reconstruction of the whole phenomenology directly comparable to the experimental (typically kinetic) data. Application to two systems has demonstrated that the proposed approach can represent a valuable tool, somewhat complementary to other methods based on explicit quantum-dynamical approaches, for the theoretical-computational investigations of large and complex atomic-molecular systems. A theoretical-computational procedure, based on Molecular Dynamics simulations, is proposed for modelling the kinetics of non-adiabatic processes in very complex systems.![]()
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Amadei
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche
- Universita' di Roma ‘Tor Vergata’
- Roma
- Italy
| | - Massimiliano Aschi
- Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche e Chimiche
- Universita' di L'Aquila
- L'Aquila
- Italy
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