A reduced density-matrix theory of absorption line shape of molecular aggregate

Excitation energy transfer and vibronic relaxation through light-harvesting dendrimer building blocks: A nonadiabatic perspective

The light-harvesting excitonic properties of poly(phenylene ethynylene) (PPE) extended dendrimers (tree-like π-conjugated macromolecules) involve a directional cascade of local excitation energy transfer (EET) processes occurring from the "leaves" (shortest branches) to the "trunk" (longest branch), which can be viewed from a vibronic perspective as a sequence of internal conversions occurring among a connected graph of nonadiabatically coupled locally excited electronic states via conical intersections. The smallest PPE building block that is able to exhibit EET, the asymmetrically meta-substituted PPE oligomer with one acetylenic bond on one side and two parallel ones on the other side (hence, 2-ring and 3-ring para-substituted pseudo-fragments), is a prototype and the focus of the present work. From linear-response time-dependent density functional theory electronic-structure calculations of the molecule as regards its first two nonadiabatically coupled, optically active, singlet excited states, we built a (1 + 2)-state-8-dimensional vibronic-coupling Hamiltonian model for running subsequent multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree wavepacket relaxations and propagations, yielding both steady-state absorption and emission spectra as well as real-time dynamics. The EET process from the shortest branch to the longest one occurs quite efficiently (about 80% quantum yield) within the first 25 fs after light excitation and is mediated vibrationally through acetylenic and quinoidal bond-stretching modes together with a particular role given to the central-ring anti-quinoidal rock-bending mode. Electronic and vibrational energy relaxations, together with redistributions of quantum populations and coherences, are interpreted herein through the lens of a nonadiabatic perspective, showing some interesting segregation among the foremost photoactive degrees of freedom as regards spectroscopy and reactivity.

The Kuramoto–Lohe model and collective absorption of a photon

Light absorption by molecular exciton states in disordered networks is studied. The main purpose of this paper is to look at how phases of the intermediate ground–excited state superposition interfere during the absorption process. How does this phase average enable, or suppress, absorption to a delocalized state? To address this question, a theory for phase oscillators is used to predict the purity of the collective excited state of the network. The results of the study suggest that collective absorption by molecular exciton states requires a sufficiently large electronic coupling between molecules in the network compared to the random distribution of transition energies at the sites, even when the molecular network is completely isolated from the environment degrees of freedom. The ‘dividing line’ between absorption to a mixture of, essentially, localized excited states and coherent excitation of a pure delocalized exciton state is suggested to be predicted by the threshold of phase synchronization.

Size-Transformable Bicomponent Peptide Nanoparticles for Deep Tumor Penetration and Photo-Chemo Combined Antitumor Therapy

The suitable size of multifunctional nanomedicines strongly influences their physicochemical properties and actions in biological systems, for example, prolonged blood circulation time, efficient tumor accumulation, and deep tumor penetration. However, it is still a great challenge to construct size-transformable nanoparticles (NPs) for both efficient accumulation and penetration throughout tumor tissue. Herein, a size-transformed multifunctional NP is developed through a simple bicomponent assembling strategy for enhanced tumor penetration and efficient photo-chemo combined antitumor therapy, due to the acidic tumor microenvironment and near infrared-laser irradiation induced size-shrink. This multifunctional bicomponent NP (PP NP) driven by electrostatic interaction is composed of negatively charged peptide amphiphile (PA1) and positively charged peptide prodrug (PA2). PP NPs (≈170 nm) have been proven to improve blood circulation time and stability in biological environments. Interestingly, PP NPs can reassemble small NPs (<30 nm) by responding to acidic tumor microenvironment and near-infrared laser irradiation, which facilitates deep tumor penetration and improves cellular internalization. By integrating fluorescence imaging, tumor targeting, deep tumor penetration, and combined photo-chemotherapy, PP NPs exhibit excellent in vivo antitumor efficacy. This study might provide an insight for developing a bicomponent assembling system with efficient tumor penetration and multimode for antitumor therapy.

Absorption and Circular Dichroism Spectra of Molecular Aggregates With the Full Cumulant Expansion

The exciton Hamiltonian of multichromophoric aggregates can be probed by spectroscopic techniques such as linear absorption and circular dichroism. To compare calculated Hamiltonians to experiments, a lineshape theory is needed, which takes into account the coupling of the excitons with inter- and intramolecular vibrations. This coupling is normally introduced in a perturbative way through the cumulant expansion formalism and further approximated by assuming a Markovian exciton dynamics, for example with the modified Redfield theory. Here, we present the implementation of the full cumulant expansion (FCE) formalism (J. Chem. Phys.142, 2015, 09410625747060) to efficiently compute absorption and circular dichroism spectra of molecular aggregates beyond the Markov approximation, without restrictions on the form of exciton–phonon coupling. By employing the LH2 system of purple bacteria as a challenging test case, we compare the FCE lineshapes with the Markovian lineshapes obtained with the modified Redfield theory, showing that the latter presents a less satisfying agreement with experiments. The FCE approach instead accurately describes the lineshapes, especially in the vibronic sideband of the B800 peak. We envision that the FCE approach will become a valuable tool for accurately comparing model exciton Hamiltonians with optical spectroscopy experiments.

Construction of Multichromophoric Spectra from Monomer Data: Applications to Resonant Energy Transfer

We develop a model that establishes a quantitative link between the physical properties of molecular aggregates and their constituent building blocks. The relation is built on the coherent potential approximation, calibrated against exact results, and proven reliable for a wide range of parameters. It provides a practical method to compute spectra and transfer rates in multichromophoric systems from experimentally accessible monomer data. Applications to Förster energy transfer reveal optimal transfer rates as functions of both the system-bath coupling and intra-aggregate coherence.

Förster resonance energy transfer, absorption and emission spectra in multichromophoric systems. I. Full cumulant expansions and system-bath entanglement

We study the Förster resonant energy transfer rate, absorption and emission spectra in multichromophoric systems. The multichromophoric Förster theory (MCFT) is determined from an overlap integral of generalized matrices related to the donor's emission and acceptor's absorption spectra, which are obtained via a full 2nd-order cumulant expansion technique developed in this work. We calculate the spectra and MCFT rate for both localized and delocalized systems, and calibrate the analytical 2nd-order cumulant expansion with the exact stochastic path integral method. We present three essential findings: (i) The role of the initial entanglement between the donor and its bath is found to be crucial in both the emission spectrum and the MCFT rate. (ii) The absorption spectra obtained by the cumulant expansion method are nearly identical to the exact spectra for both localized and delocalized systems, even when the system-bath coupling is far from the perturbative regime. (iii) For the emission spectra, the cumulant expansion can give reliable results for localized systems, but fail to provide reliable spectra of the high-lying excited states of a delocalized system, when the system-bath coupling is large and the thermal energy is small. This paper also provides a simple golden-rule derivation of the MCFT, reviews existing methods, and motivates further developments in the subsequent papers.