Viscosity dependence and solvent effects in the photoisomerization of cis-stilbene: Insight from a molecular dynamics study with an ab initio potential-energy function

Photoisomerization of Stilbene: The Detailed XMCQDPT2 Treatment

We report the detailed XMCQDPT2/cc-pVTZ study of trans-cis photoisomerization in one of the core systems of both experimental and computational photochemistry-the stilbene molecule. For the first time, the potential energy surface (PES) of the S1 state has been directly optimized and scanned using a multistate multiconfiguration second-order perturbation theory. We characterize the trans-stilbene, pyramidalized (phantom), and DHP-cis-stilbene geometric domains of the S1 state and describe their stationary points including the transition states between them, as well as S1/S0 intersections. Also reported are the minima and the activation barriers in the ground state. Our calculations correctly predict the kinetic isotope effect due to H/D exchange at ethylenic hydrogens, the dynamic behavior of excited cis-stilbene, and trans-cis branching ratio after relaxation to S0 through a rather unsymmetric conical intersection. In general, the XMCQDPT2 results confirm the qualitative adequacy of the TDDFT (especially SF-TDDFT) picture of the excited stilbene but also reveal quantitative discrepancies that deserve further exploration.

Photoisomerization of stilbene: a spin-flip density functional theory approach

The photoisomerization process of 1,2-diphenylethylene (stilbene) is investigated using the spin-flip density functional theory (SFDFT), which has recently been shown to be a promising approach for locating conical intersection (CI) points (Minezawa, N.; Gordon, M. S. J. Phys. Chem. A2009, 113, 12749). The SFDFT method gives valuable insight into twisted stilbene to which the linear response time-dependent DFT approach cannot be applied. In contrast to the previous SFDFT study of ethylene, a distinct twisted minimum is found for stilbene. The optimized structure has a sizable pyramidalization angle and strong ionic character, indicating that a purely twisted geometry is not a true minimum. In addition, the SFDFT approach can successfully locate two CI points: the twisted-pyramidalized CI that is similar to the ethylene counterpart and another CI that possibly lies on the cyclization pathway of cis-stilbene. The mechanisms of the cis--trans isomerization reaction are discussed on the basis of the two-dimensional potential energy surface along the twisting and pyramidalization angles.

Structure of the conical intersections driving the cis-trans photoisomerization of conjugated molecules

High-level ab initio calculations show that the singlet photochemical cis-trans isomerization of organic molecules under isolated conditions can occur according to two distinct mechanisms. These mechanisms are characterized by the different structures of the conical intersection funnels controlling photoproduct formation. In nonpolar (e.g. hydrocarbon) polyenes the lowest-lying funnel corresponds to a (CH)3 kink with both double and adjacent single bonds twisted, which may initiate hula-twist (HT) isomerization. On the other hand, in polar conjugated systems such as protonated Schiff bases (PSB) the funnel shows a structure with just one twisted double bond. The ground-state relaxation paths departing from the funnels indicate that the HT motion may take place in nonpolar conjugated systems but also that the single-bond twist may be turned back, whereas in free conjugated polar molecules such as PSB a one-bond flip mechanism dominates from the beginning. The available experimental evidence either supports these predictions or is at least consistent with them.

Density functional studies of the ground- and excited-state potential-energy curves of stilbene cis-trans isomerization

Using spin-unrestricted density functional theory (the VWN Becke-Perdew potential), including broken-symmetry and spin-projection methods, we have obtained the potential-energy curves as a function of the central torsional angle of stilbene in the ground (S0), the first excited triplet (T1), the first excited singlet (S1), and the doubly excited singlet (S2) states. The thermal trans-->cis isomerization of stilbene passes through a diradical broken-symmetry electronic structure around the twisted conformation (90 degrees central torsional angle) in the ground state. Our calculations support the proposed triplet mechanism for sensitized cis [symbol: see text] trans photoisomerization and the nonadiabatic singlet mechanism proposed by Orlandi and Siebrand. On the T1 potential-energy curve, the rotation of the C=C bond for both trans- and cis-stilbene will lead stilbene to the twisted conformation, from which the twisted stilbene will decay to the ground-state surface that is nearly isoenergetic with the T1 surface and has diradical electronic structure in the twisted region. On the S1 potential-energy curve, the energy increases in the direction from trans- to the twisted stilbene, and crosses with the neutral doubly excited S2 potential-energy curve, which has a minimum at the twisted structure and is lower in energy than the zwitterionic doubly excited state. The twisted stilbene around the energy minimum of the neutral doubly excited S2-state will decay onto the ground-state surface from where the rotation of the C=C bond leads the twisted stilbene to either the trans or cis configuration and the isomerization of stilbene is then completed. Similar studies have also been performed on a stilbene derivative with a substituent group, NHCOCH3.