Unravelling the mechanisms of vibrational relaxation in solution

Photophysics of Benzoxazole and Dicyano Functionalised Diketopyrrolopyrrole Derivatives: Insights into Ultrafast Processes and the Triplet State

Diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) functionalised with an electron donating unit acts as a donor-acceptor molecules that have shown potential for application in dyes and photovoltaics. These molecules offer broad absorption/emission properties and structure-dependent dynamics. In this study, we used femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy to investigate the photo-initiated dynamics of thiophene linked DPP derivatives. The thio-DPPs are further functionalised by different electrons withdrawing terminal groups, namely benzoxazole and thiophene dicyanide. The benzoxazole derivative is strongly emissive and directly relaxes directly to the ground state chloroform solution. Thiophene dicyanide derivative exhibits distinct spectral evolution in the first 10 ps, associated with structural and vibronic process. Later, it crosses over to the triplet state with a yield of 20 %. In the solid-state (thin film), we observed a signal that resembles singlet fission. However, upon careful analysis of temperature-dependent steady state absorbance spectra, we conclude that these features are due to laser-induced thermal artifacts. We describe a simplified excited state evolution in the thin film that does not include any additional excited states. These findings have significant implications for the analysis of triplet formation, which plays a major role in the photophysics of many organic materials.

Unraveling the Ultrafast Photochemical Dynamics of Nitrobenzene in Aqueous Solution

Nitroaromatic compounds are major constituents of the brown carbon aerosol particles in the troposphere that absorb near-ultraviolet (UV) and visible solar radiation and have a profound effect on the Earth's climate. The primary sources of brown carbon include biomass burning, forest fires, and residential burning of biofuels, and an important secondary source is photochemistry in aqueous cloud and fog droplets. Nitrobenzene is the smallest nitroaromatic molecule and a model for the photochemical behavior of larger nitroaromatic compounds. Despite the obvious importance of its droplet photochemistry to the atmospheric environment, there have not been any detailed studies of the ultrafast photochemical dynamics of nitrobenzene in aqueous solution. Here, we combine femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy, time-resolved infrared spectroscopy, and quantum chemistry calculations to investigate the primary steps following the near-UV (λ ≥ 340 nm) photoexcitation of aqueous nitrobenzene. To understand the role of the surrounding water molecules in the photochemical dynamics of nitrobenzene, we compare the results of these investigations with analogous measurements in solutions of methanol, acetonitrile, and cyclohexane. We find that vibrational energy transfer to the aqueous environment quenches internal excitation, and therefore, unlike the gas phase, we do not observe any evidence for formation of photoproducts on timescales up to 500 ns. We also find that hydrogen bonding between nitrobenzene and surrounding water molecules slows the S1/S0 internal conversion process.

do Casal M, Pinheiro M, Toldo JM, Barbatti M. Modeling the heating and cooling of a chromophore after photoexcitation

The heating of a chromophore due to internal conversion and its cooling down due to energy dissipation to the solvent are crucial phenomena to characterize molecular photoprocesses. In this work, we simulated the ab initio nonadiabatic dynamics of cytosine, a prototypical chromophore undergoing ultrafast internal conversion, in three solvents—argon matrix, benzene, and water—spanning an extensive range of interactions. We implemented an analytical energy-transfer model to analyze these data and extract heating and cooling times. The model accounts for nonadiabatic effects, and excited- and ground-state energy transfer, and can analyze data from any dataset containing kinetic energy as a function of time. Cytosine heats up in the subpicosecond scale and cools down within 25, 4, and 1.3 ps in argon, benzene, and water, respectively. The time constants reveal that a significant fraction of the benzene and water heating occurs while cytosine is still electronically excited.

An analytical energy-transfer model is implemented to obtain a chromophore's heating and cooling times in a given solvent by using quantities available in nonadiabatic dynamics simulations.

Revealing the Photophysical and Photochemical Reaction Processes of Carprofen in Different Solutions via Ultrafast Femtosecond to Nanosecond Transient Absorption

Carprofen (CP), one kind of a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, exhibits phototoxic side effects in physiology, while its phototoxic mechanism is ambiguous. To uncover CP's photophysical and photochemical reaction processes, femtosecond to nanosecond transient absorption spectroscopies were employed to directly detect excited states and transient intermediates of CP upon UV irradiation in pure acetonitrile (MeCN), MeCN/water 1:1, and acid/alkaline buffer solutions. The transient absorption data together with DFT calculations were integrated to elucidate mechanisms for photochemical reactions of CP in different solutions. The associated photophysical and photochemical reaction pathways are dependent on various solution environments. In a pure MeCN solvent, CP is excited to a singlet state (S₁) and rapidly interacts with the solvent to proceed solvent rearrangement (SR). It then undergoes vibrational cooling (VC) and proceeds intersystem crossing (ISC) to produce the lowest triplet state (³CP). ³CP finally decays to the ground state. While in a MeCN/water 1:1 solution, deprotonated S₁ of CP experiences SR and VC processes, and then it is promoted to a deprotonated triplet state (³CP^-). ³CP^- undergoes the parallel reactions: dechlorination to a phenyl radical (²CP^-) and decarboxylation to a T₁ anion (³CP^-(de-CO₂)). Finally, both intermediates produce the radical anion species ²CP^-(de-CO₂). In a pH = 7.4 (MeCN/PBS 1:1) solution, ³CP^- can be converted into ²CP^-(de-CO₂) more quickly. Interestingly, we found that the dechlorination step can be promoted in an alkaline solution. Phenyl and chlorine radicals produced in an aqueous solution may be the root cause of the drug's harmful side effects on the human body. This may be useful to guide the design of related CP drugs with minimal phototoxicity in the pharmaceutical process.

Vibrational Energy Relaxation of Deuterium Fluoride in d-Dichloromethane: Insights from Different Potentials

Vibrationally excited deuterium fluoride (DF) formed by fluorine atom reaction with a solvent was found (Science, 2015, 347, 530) to relax rapidly (less than 10 ps) in acetonitrile-d₃ (CD₃CN) and dichloromethane-d₂ (CD₂Cl₂). However, insights into how CD₂Cl₂ facilitates this energy relaxation have so far been lacking, given the weak interaction between DF and a single CD₂Cl₂. In this work, we report the results of reactive simulations with a two-state reactive empirical valence bond (EVB) potential to study the energy deposited into nascent DF after transition-state passage and of nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations using multiple different potential energy functions to model the relaxation dynamics. For these second simulations, we used the standard Merck molecular force field (MMFF) potential, an MMFF-based covalent-ionic empirical valence bond (EVB) potential (EVB^CI), a newly developed potential [referred to as MMFF(rDF)] which extends upon the MMFF potential by making the DF/CD₂Cl₂ interaction depend on the value of the D-F bond stretching coordinate and by taking the anisotropic charge distribution of the solvent molecules into account, the polarizable atomic multipole optimized energetics for biomolecular applications (AMOEBA) potential, and the quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) potential. The relaxation is revealed to be highly sensitive to the potential used. Neither standard MMFF nor EVB^CI reproduces the experimentally observed rapid relaxation dynamics, and they also fail to provide a good description of the interaction potential between DF and CD₂Cl₂ as calculated using CCSD(T)-F12. This is attributed to the use of a point-charge model for the solute and to failing to model the anisotropic electrostatic properties of CD₂Cl₂. The MMFF(rDF), AMOEBA, and QM/MM potentials all reproduce the CCSD(T)-F12 two-body DF---CD₂Cl₂ interaction potential rather well but only with the QM/MM approach is fast vibrational relaxation obtained (lifetimes of ∼288, ∼186, and ∼8 ps, respectively), which we attribute to differences in the solute-solvent local structure. With QM/MM, a unique "many-body" interaction pattern in which DF is in close contact with two solvent Cl atoms and more than three solvent D atoms is found, but this structure is not seen with other potentials. The QM/MM dynamics also display enhanced solute-solvent interactions with vibrationally excited DF that induce a DF band redshift and hence a resonant overlap with solvent C-D modes, which facilitate the intermolecular energy transfer. Our work also suggests that potentials used to model energy relaxation need to capture the fine structure of solute-solvent interactions and not just the two-body part.

Intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution and the quantum ergodicity transition: a phase space perspective

The onset of facile intramolecular vibrational energy flow can be related to features in the connected network of anharmonic resonances in the classical phase space.

Modelling vibrational relaxation in complex molecular systems

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.

The full dynamics of energy relaxation in large organic molecules: from photo-excitation to solvent heating

In some molecular systems, such as nucleobases, polyenes or sunscreens, substantial amounts of photo-excitation energy are dissipated on a sub-picosecond time scale. Where does this energy go or among which degrees of freedom it is being distributed at such early times?

In some molecular systems, such as nucleobases, polyenes or the active ingredients of sunscreens, substantial amounts of photo-excitation energy are dissipated on a sub-picosecond time scale, raising questions such as: where does this energy go or among which degrees of freedom it is being distributed at such early times? Here we use transient absorption spectroscopy to track excitation energy dispersing from the optically accessible vibronic subsystem into the remaining vibrational subsystem of the solute and solvent. Monitoring the flow of energy during vibrational redistribution enables quantification of local molecular heating. Subsequent heat dissipation away from the solute molecule is characterized by classical thermodynamics and molecular dynamics simulations. Hence, we present a holistic approach that tracks the internal temperature and vibronic distribution from the act of photo-excitation to the restoration of the global equilibrium. Within this framework internal vibrational redistribution and vibrational cooling are emergent phenomena. We demonstrate the validity of the framework by examining a highly controversial example, carotenoids. We show that correctly accounting for the local temperature unambiguously explains their energetically and temporally congested spectral dynamics without the ad hoc postulation of additional ‘dark’ states. An immediate further application of this approach would be to monitor the excitation and thermal dynamics of pigment–protein systems.

Taking the plunge: chemical reaction dynamics in liquids

The dynamics of chemical reactions in liquid solutions are now amenable to direct study using ultrafast laser spectroscopy techniques and advances in computer simulation methods. The surrounding solvent affects the chemical reaction dynamics in numerous ways, which include: (i) formation of complexes between reactants and solvent molecules; (ii) modifications to transition state energies and structures relative to the reactants and products; (iii) coupling between the motions of the reacting molecules and the solvent modes, and exchange of energy; (iv) solvent caging of reactants and products; and (v) structural changes to the solvation shells in response to the changing chemical identity of the solutes, on timescales which may be slower than the reactive events. This article reviews progress in the study of bimolecular chemical reaction dynamics in solution, concentrating on reactions which occur on ground electronic states. It illustrates this progress with reference to recent experimental and computational studies, and considers how the various ways in which a solvent affects the chemical reaction dynamics can be unravelled. Implications are considered for research in fields such as mechanistic synthetic chemistry.