Amination and Protonation Facilitated Novel Isoxazole Derivative for Highly Efficient Electron and Hole Separation

It is of great importance to understand the intrinsic relationship between phototautomerization and photoelectric properties for the exploration of novel organic materials. Here, in order to chemically control the protonation process, the aminated isoxazole derivative (2,2'-(isoxazolo[5,4-d]isoxazole-3,6-diyl)dibenzenaminium, DP-DA-DPIxz) with -N═ as the proton acceptor was designed to achieve the twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) state which was triggered by an excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) process. This kind of protonation enhanced the intramolecular hydrogen bonding, conjugative effect, and steric hindrance effects, ensuring a barrierless spontaneous TICT process. Through the intramolecular proton transfer, the configuration torsion and conjugation dissociation of the DP-DA-DPIxz molecule was favored, which led to efficient charge separation and remarkable variations in light-emitting properties. We hope the present investigation will provide a new approach to design novel optoelectronic organic materials and shine light on the understanding of the charge transfer and separation process in molecular science.

Light-Driven Switching between Intramolecular Proton-Transfer and Charge-Transfer States

A molecular photoswitch, 2-(4'-diethylamino-2'-hydroxyphenyl)-1H-imidazo-[4,5-b]pyridine (DHP), with mutually independent paths of excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) and twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) was developed. Control over these processes was attained by switching the solvents. Depending on the solvent's hydrogen-bond capacity and polarity, either one of the photoprocesses (ESIPT or TICT) or both can be triggered. Accordingly, normal and tautomer emissions, normal and TICT emissions, or triple emission of normal, tautomer, and TICT were obtained from the molecule. The emissions were resolved by fluorescence lifetime. The conclusions were established by synthesizing and studying the methoxy derivative of the molecule.

Excitation wavelength dependent ICT character and ISC efficiency in a photocleavage agent of 1-aminoanthraquinone

Anthraquinone derivatives have been widely used as photocleavage agents and dyes. Here, photoinduced excited state intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) dynamics of 1-aminoanthraquinone in ethanol are studied by femtosecond transient absorption (fs-TA) spectroscopy and quantum chemical (QC) calculations. Four decay associated difference spectra and corresponding lifetime components were obtained by singular value decomposition and global fitting analysis from the fs-TA spectra. The QC calculations prove that the S₁ state has obvious ICT character. Planar ICT (PICT) and twisted ICT (TICT) reaction coordinates are observed. On the PICT coordinate, vibrational relaxation (VR) and intersystem crossing (ISC) processes are observed. The ISC efficiency is dependent on excitation wavelength, which elucidates that T'₂ state participates in the ISC process on a higher-level than the S'₁ state. On the TICT coordinate, the TICT process is dependent on excitation wavelength, which elucidates a direct experimental evidence of an energy barrier in excited state TICT potential energy.

Two-Photon Absorption and Cell Imaging of Fluorene-Functionalized Epicocconone Analogues

Epicocconone 1 is a natural chromophore isolated from the fungus Epicoccum nigrum that has shown applications in proteomics and fluorescent microscopy thanks to its unique pro-fluorescence properties. The modification of the skeleton of the natural product by replacing the triene side chain by a fluorenyl scaffold can noticeably increase the fluorophore's absorption coefficient. The synthesis of the analogues of the natural product has been made possible by the use of a palladium-catalyzed carbonylation reaction, allowing the construction of the β-keto-dioxinone key intermediate. Two-photon absorption cross-section measurements of the fluorenyl epicocconone analogues show a structure dependency with values ranging from 60 to 280 GM and live cell imaging show intense staining of intracellular vesicle-like structures around the nucleus.

Solvent modulated excited state processes of push-pull molecule with hybridized local excitation and intramolecular charge transfer character

Recently, a type of synthetic highly efficient OLED molecule based on a hybridized local excitation and charge transfer (HLCT) character has received much attention as a potential high-efficiency fluorescent OLED material. In this article, we report the relaxation dynamics of the excited states of cyano-substituted oligo α-phenylenevinylene-1,4-bis(R-cyano-4-diphenylaminostyryl)-2,5-diphenylbenzene (CNDPASDB) with HLCT character using steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopy as well as quantum chemical calculations. The dramatic dependence of the fluorescence quantum yield, radiative and non-radiative rate, as well as the excited state relaxation pathways on solvent polarity reveals that the solvation process controls the energy levels of two closely spaced electronic excited states. By employing femtosecond transient absorption spectra, the gradual transition from the LE state to the intramolecular CT state with an increase in solvent polarity is clearly resolved. In low-polarity solvents the fluorescence of CNDPASDB is mainly emission from the LE state, whereas in high-polarity solvents non-radiative decay from the CT state dominates. And in medium-polarity solvents, because of the relatively weaker solvation-induced stabilization of the CT state, its energy could be equal to or slightly lower than that of the LE state, leading to a smaller driving force for LE → CT interconversion; therefore complete LE → CT interconversion cannot take place. In this situation, LE ↔ CT intercrossed equilibration is established and the equilibrium constant is further estimated to be about 4 according to the obtained kinetics, and the equilibrium population of the CT state is about 80%. DFT/TDDFT analysis also confirmed an efficient intercrossing of LE and CT states with an increase in solvent polarity. It is found that upon increasing the solvent polarity, the hole and electron on a molecule are entirely separated, suggesting a complete CT character. These results provide guidance for understanding the relationship between solvent polarity and the HLCT process, as well as for designing and synthesizing advanced OLED materials.

Theoretical insights into excited-state intramolecular and multiple intermolecular hydrogen bonds in 2-(2-Hydroxy-phenyl)-4(3H)-quinazolinone

The photophysical properties and photochemistry reactions of 2-(2-Hydroxy-phenyl)-4(3H)-quinazolinone (HPQ) system in different solutions are studied by using density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) methods. Our theoretical investigation explores that an ultrafast barrier-free excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) process occurs and the configuration twisting is found in the electronic excited state. In the polar protic methanol solution, the hydrogen-bonded complex composed by HPQ and two methanol molecules (HPQ-2M) could exist stably in the ground state. Upon photoexcitation the isolated HPQ is initially excited to the first excited state, while the HPQ-2M system is firstly excited to the S₃ state and undergoes internal conversion (IC) to the S₁ state. The intermolecular hydrogen bonds are strengthened in the excited state. The simulated electronic spectra agree well with the experimental results. The strengthening of the intermolecular hydrogen bonds is also confirmed by the calculated vibrational spectra. In addition, the intramolecular charge transfer happens in both HPQ and HPQ-2M systems from the frontier molecular orbital analysis.

Solvatochromism and pH effect on the emission of a triphenylimidazole-phenylacrylonitrile derivative: experimental and DFT studies

In this work, a study of the photophysical properties in different solvents and at different pH values of a luminogenic compound with a donor–π–acceptor (D–π–A) structure was carried out. The compound (Z)-3-(4-(4,5-diphenyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)phenyl)-2-phenylacrylonitrile (2) was synthesized and characterized by SCXRD, FT-IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, EIMS, UV-Vis absorption and fluorescence. The SCXRD characterization reveals a monoclinic system, P2₁/c, with Z = 4 and an imidazole core having hydrogen bonding with respect to water molecules present in the asymmetric unit. It leads to a strong π–π-interaction in the solid state. The fluorescence λ_max emission of the powder and thin film was observed at 563 nm and 540 nm respectively. Several degrees of positive solvatochromic fluorescence were observed due to different molecular conformations in various solvents. When the pH of the compound was changed with HCl or NaOH, a shift in the wavelength of emission was observed in a reversible manner. At pH 2, the λ_max of emission was at 541 nm whereas at pH 14 there were two emissions at 561 nm and 671 nm. Due to their good emission in the solid state, compound 2 was tested as an emitting layer in OLEDs; the devices showed an acceptable performance with a luminance average of 450 cd m⁻². The band gap was analyzed by optical absorption, cyclic voltammetry measurement and DFT calculations.

The optical properties of an imidazole derivative were studied at various pH values and in solvents and the solid-state through experimental and DFT calculation.

How a linear triazene photoisomerizes in a volume-conserving fashion

Understanding deactivation mechanisms of functional groups is a key step to design novel photo-active devices and molecular imaging agents. Here, we elucidate the photochemistry of linear triazenes, an extended analogue of the photo-switchable azo group, exemplarily for the widely used DNA-minor-groove binder berenil. Combining ultrafast spectroscopy and ab initio calculations unveils that the E-azo,s-trans structure of berenil predominates in the gas phase and in aqueous solution, and ADC(2) intrinsic reaction coordinate calculations disclose that the excited-state relaxation to the S1 minima/conical intersections follows a two-step mechanism: N[double bond, length as m-dash]N bond stretching followed by a bicycle-pedal rotation in the triazene bridge. Furthermore, studying the ground-state pathways shows that a fraction of the molecules relaxes back to the E-azo,s-trans isomer while the other part photoisomerizes to the Z-azo,s-trans via a hula-twist motion, as evidenced by experimental quantum yields of Φ ≈ 0.5 found for berenil in water, ethylene glycol, or bound to β-trypsin. Moreover, our studies show that while the excited-state relaxation is insensitive to the environment, the ground-state dynamics depend on biomolecular binding partners.

Photochemistry and Photophysics in Silica-Based Materials: Ultrafast and Single Molecule Spectroscopy Observation

Silica-based materials (SBMs) are widely used in catalysis, photonics, and drug delivery. Their pores and cavities act as hosts of diverse guests ranging from classical dyes to drugs and quantum dots, allowing changes in the photochemical behavior of the confined guests. The heterogeneity of the guest populations as well as the confinement provided by these hosts affect the behavior of the formed hybrid materials. As a consequence, the observed reaction dynamics becomes significantly different and complex. Studying their photobehavior requires advanced laser-based spectroscopy and microscopy techniques as well as computational methods. Thanks to the development of ultrafast (spectroscopy and imaging) tools, we are witnessing an increasing interest of the scientific community to explore the intimate photobehavior of these composites. Here, we review the recent theoretical and ultrafast experimental studies of their photodynamics and discuss the results in comparison to those in homogeneous media. The discussion of the confined dynamics includes solvation and intra- and intermolecular proton-, electron-, and energy transfer events of the guest within the SBMs. Several examples of applications in photocatalysis, (photo)sensors, photonics, photovoltaics, and drug delivery demonstrate the vast potential of the SBMs in modern science and technology.

Multi-stimuli responsive luminescent azepane-substituted β-diketones and difluoroboron complexes

Difluoroboron β-diketonate (BF2bdk) compounds show environment-sensitive optical properties in solution, aggregation-induced emission (AIE) and multi-stimuli responsive fluorescence switching in the solid state. Here, a series of 4-azepane-substituted β-diketone (bdk) ligands (L-H, L-OMe, L-Br) and their corresponding difluoroboron dyes (D-H, D-OMe, D-Br) were synthesized, and various responsive fluorescence properties of the compounds were studied, including solvatochromism, viscochromism, AIE, mechanochromic luminescence (ML) and halochromism. Compared to the β-diketones, the boron complexes exhibited higher extinction coefficients but lower quantum yields, and red-shifted absorption and emission in CH2Cl2. Computational studies showed that intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) dominated rather than π-π* transitions in all the compounds regardless of boron coordination. In solution, all the bdk ligands and boron dyes showed red-shifted emission in more polar solvents and increased fluorescence intensity in more viscous media. Upon aggregation, the emission of the β-diketones was quenched, however, the boronated dyes showed increased emission, indicative of AIE. Solid-state emission properties, ML and halochromism, were investigated on spin cast films. For ML, smearing caused a bathochromic emission shift for L-Br, and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns showed that the "as spun" and thermally annealed states were more crystalline and the smeared state was amorphous. No obvious ML emission shift was observed for L-H or L-OMe, and the boronated dyes were not mechano-active. Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) and triethylamine (TEA) vapors were used to study halochromism. Large hypsochromic emission shifts were observed for all the compounds after TFA vapor was applied, and reversible fluorescence switching was achieved using the acid/base pair.

Ultrafast investigation of photoinduced charge transfer in aminoanthraquinone pharmaceutical product

We investigated the mechanism of intramolecular charge transfer and the following radiationless dynamics of the excited states of 1-aminoanthraquinone using steady state and time-resolved absorption spectroscopy combined with quantum chemical calculations. Following photoexcitation with 460 nm, conformational relaxation via twisting of the amino group, charge transfer and the intersystem crossing (ISC) processes have been established to be the major relaxation pathways responsible for the ultrafast nonradiative of the excited S₁ state. Intramolecular proton transfer, which could be induced by intramolecular hydrogen bonding is inspected and excluded. Time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) calculations reveal the change of the dipole moments of the S₀ and S₁ states along the twisted coordinate of the amino group, indicating the mechanism of twisted intra-molecular charge transfer (TICT). The timescale of TICT is measured to be 5 ps due to the conformational relaxation and a barrier on the S₁ potential surface. The ISC from the S₁ state to the triplet manifold is a main deactivation pathway with the decay time of 28 ps. Our results observed here have yield a physically intuitive and complete picture of the photoinduced charge transfer and radiationless dynamics in anthraquinone pharmaceutial products.

Comparative photophysics and ultrafast dynamics of dimethylaminochalcone and a structurally rigid derivative: experimental identification of TICT coordinate

Restriction of torsional relaxation and solvent dependent competing photophysical dynamics of free and rigid dimethylaminochalcones were investigated by time resolved spectroscopy.

Biexponential photon antibunching: recombination kinetics within the Förster-cycle in DMSO

Time-resolved experiments with pulsed-laser excitation are the standard approach to map the dynamic evolution of excited states, but ground-state kinetics remain hidden or require pump-dump-probe schemes. Here, we exploit the so-called photon antibunching, a purely quantum-optical effect related to single molecule detection to assess the rate constants for a chemical reaction in the electronic ground state. The measurement of the second-order correlation function g((2)), i.e. the evaluation of inter-photon arrival times, is applied to the reprotonation in a Förster-cycle. We find that the antibunching of three different photoacids in the aprotic solvent DMSO significantly differs from the behavior in water. The longer decay constant of the biexponential antibunching tl is linked to the bimolecular reprotonation kinetics of the fully separated ion-pair, independent of the acidic additives. The value of the corresponding bimolecular rate constant, kp = 4 × 10(9) M(-1) s(-1), indicates diffusion-controlled reprotonation. The analysis of tl also allows for the extraction of the separation yield of proton and the conjugated base after excitation and amounts to approximately 15%. The shorter time component ts is connected to the decay of the solvent-separated ion pair. The associated time constant for geminate reprotonation is approximately 3 ± 1 ns in agreement with independent tcspc experiments. These experiments verify that the transfer of quantum-optical experiments to problems in chemistry enables mechanistic conclusions which are hardly accessible by other methods.

Solvent Dependency in the Quantum Efficiency of 4-[(4-Aminophenyl)-(4-imino-1-cyclohexa-2, 5- dienylidene) methyl] Aniline Hydrochloride

In the present work dual beam thermal lens technique is used for studying the solvent dependency on the quantum efficiency of a novel dye used for biomedical applications. The role of solvent in the absolute fluorescence quantum yield of 4-[(4-Aminophenyl)-(4-imino-1-cyclohexa-2, 5- dienylidene) methyl] aniline hydrochloride is studied using thermal lens technique. It is observed that the variation in solvents and its concentration results considerable variations in the fluorescence quantum yield. These variations are due to the non-radiative relaxation of the absorbed energy and because of the different solvent properties. The highest quantum yield of the dye is observed in the polar protic solvent-water.

Monitoring ultrafast intramolecular proton transfer processes in an unsymmetric β-diketone

Electronic excitation of a UV-absorbing unsymmetric β-diketone discloses intramolecular proton transfer among electronic ground as well as excited states.

Photophysics of 2-(4'-amino-2'-hydroxyphenyl)-1H-imidazo-[4,5-c]pyridine and its analogues: intramolecular proton transfer versus intramolecular charge transfer

Photophysical characteristics of 2-(4'-amino-2'-hydroxyphenyl)-1H-imidazo-[4,5-c]pyridine (AHPIP-c) have been studied in various aprotic and protic solvents using UV-visible, steady state fluorescence and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopic techniques. To comprehend the competition between the intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) and the excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) processes, the photophysical properties of 2-(4'-amino-2'-methoxyphenyl)-1H-imidazo-[4,5-c]pyridine (AMPIP-c) and 2-(4'-aminophenyl)-1H-imidazo-[4,5-c]pyridine (APIP-c) were also investigated. Though APIP-c displays twisted ICT (TICT) emission in protic solvents, AHPIP-c exhibits normal and tautomer emissions in aprotic as well as in protic solvents due to ESIPT. However, the methoxy derivative, AMPIP-c, emits weak TICT fluorescence in methanol.