Density Functional Theory Applied to Structure and Vibrational Band Analysis of an Aggregated Thiacarbocyanine

Comparative study of the structural and vibroelectronic properties of porphyrin and its derivatives

Density functional theory (DFT and time-dependent-DFT (TD-DFT) were employed to investigate the vibroelectronic structural properties of porphyrin and some derivatives: unsubstituted porphyrin (TPyr), meso-tetraphenylporphyrin (TPP), meso-tetrakis(p-sulfonatophenyl)porphyrin (TSPP), protonated-TPyr (H₂TPyr), deuterated-H₂TPyr (D₄TPyr), protonated-TPP (H₂TPP) and deuterated-H₂TPP (D₄TPP), protonated TSPP (H₂TSPP), deuterated-H₂TSPP (D₄TSPP), dicationic TSPP (H₆TSPP) and deuterated-H₆TSPP (D₈TSPP). The possible internal conversion (IC) and intersystem crossing (ISC) processes of these compounds were investigated. Finally, the relaxed ground state potential energy surface (PES) (S₀), and singlet (S_n, n = 1–24) and triplet (T_n) excited state PESs of the TSPP molecule were calculated as function of the dihedral angle (C_α-C_m-C_ϕ-C(ph)) rotation. The results of the calculations indicated that while the meso-substitutions caused a significant shift in frequencies when the meso-carbons within the parent-porphine (or TPyr) are involved in the vibrational motion of molecules; the protonation of the N atoms at the porphine/porphyrin core causes a significant blue shift when the H on the N atoms within the pyrroline are dominantly involved in the vibrational motions. The deuteration of N atoms not only caused a red-shift in the frequencies of the corresponding peaks below 1600 cm⁻¹, but also produced new vibrational modes of frequencies in the 2565–2595 cm⁻¹ range caused by the N-D bond stretching. Similarly, the deuteration of O atoms within the sulfonato groups (-SO₃⁻) exhibited a new peak at around 2642 cm⁻¹ due to O-D bond stretching. The measured Raman spectrum of the H₂TSPP is assigned based on the predicted Raman spectra of the compounds studied here and measured Raman spectrum of the TPP (from our previous work). The IR spectrum is assigned based on our calculations and measured IR spectra obtained from the literature. The results of the TD-DFT calculations did not only indicate that the meso-substitution and protonation of the porphyrin bring about a significant read shift in the electronic transitions; but also provided a strong evidence for the IC from the Soret band to Q-bands beside possibility of the ISC process; its existence depend on the other excited state process such as much faster vibrational relaxation; the IC and etc. The ground state PES curve (S₀) of the ionic TSPP exhibited two minima at the dihedral angle (C_α-C_m-C_ϕ-C) of about 66° (corresponds to the lowest ground state) and 110° (corresponds to next energetically stable state or the local minima). The energy deference between these two minima is 0.0132 eV (or 106 cm⁻¹) and the highest potential energy barrier when undergoing from the lowest ground state to this local state is only 0.0219 eV (177 cm⁻¹; which is compatible with the thermal energy (kT) at 298 K is 207.2 cm⁻¹.

Density functional theory and Raman spectroscopy applied to structure and vibrational mode analysis of 1,1',3,3'-tetraethyl-5,5',6,6'-tetrachloro- benzimidazolocarbocyanine iodide and its aggregate

We have measured electronic and Raman scattering spectra of 1,1',3,3'-tetraethyl-5,5',6,6'-tetrachloro-benzimidazolocarbocyanine iodide (TTBC) in various environments, and we have calculated the ground state geometric and spectroscopic properties of the TTBC cation in the gas and solution phases (e.g., bond distances, bond angles, charge distributions, and Raman vibrational frequencies) using density functional theory. Our structure calculations have shown that the ground state equilibrium structure of a cis-conformer lies ∼200 cm(-1) above that of a trans-conformer and both conformers have C(2) symmetry. Calculated electronic transitions indicate that the difference between the first transitions of the two conformers is about 130 cm(-1). Raman spectral assignments of monomeric- and aggregated-TTBC cations have been aided by density functional calculations at the same level of the theory. Vibrational mode analyses of the calculated Raman spectra reveal that the observed Raman bands above 700 cm(-1) are mainly associated with the in-plane deformation of the benzimidazolo moieties, while bands below 700 cm(-1) are associated with out-of-plane deformations of the benzimidazolo moieties. We have also found that for the nonresonance excited experimental Raman spectrum of aggregated-TTBC cation, the Raman bands in the higher-frequency region are enhanced compared with those in the nonresonance spectrum of the monomeric cation. For the experimental Raman spectrum of the aggregate under resonance excitation, however, we find new Raman features below 600 cm(-1), in addition to a significantly enhanced Raman peak at 671 cm(-1) that are associated with out-of-plane distortions. Also, time-dependent density functional theory calculations suggest that the experimentally observed electronic transition at ∼515 nm (i.e., 2.41 eV) in the absorption spectrum of the monomeric-TTBC cation predominantly results from the π → π∗ transition. Calculations are further interpreted as indicating that the observed shoulder in the absorption spectrum of TTBC in methanol at 494 nm (i.e., 2.51 eV) likely results from the ν(") = 0 → ν' = 1 transition and is not due to another electronic transition of the trans-conformer-despite the fact that measured and calculated NMR results (not provided here) support the prospect that the shoulder might be attributable to the 0-0 band of the cis-conformer.