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Richardson JO. Nonadiabatic Tunneling in Chemical Reactions. J Phys Chem Lett 2024; 15:7387-7397. [PMID: 38995660 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.4c01098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/13/2024]
Abstract
Quantum tunneling can have a dramatic effect on chemical reaction rates. In nonadiabatic reactions such as electron transfers or spin crossovers, nuclear tunneling effects can be even stronger than for adiabatic proton transfers. Ring-polymer instanton theory enables molecular simulations of tunneling in full dimensionality and has been shown to be far more reliable than commonly used separable approximations. First-principles instanton calculations predict significant nonadiabatic tunneling of heavy atoms even at room temperature and give excellent agreement with experimental measurements for the intersystem crossing of two nitrenes in cryogenic matrix isolation, the spin-forbidden relaxation of photoexcited thiophosgene in the gas phase, and singlet oxygen deactivation in water at ambient conditions. Finally, an outlook of further theoretical developments is discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeremy O Richardson
- Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland
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2
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Fay TP. Extending non-adiabatic rate theory to strong electronic couplings in the Marcus inverted regime. J Chem Phys 2024; 161:014101. [PMID: 38949594 DOI: 10.1063/5.0218653] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2024] [Accepted: 06/12/2024] [Indexed: 07/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Electron transfer reactions play an essential role in many chemical and biological processes. Fermi's golden rule (GR), which assumes that the coupling between electronic states is small, has formed the foundation of electron transfer rate theory; however, in short range electron/energy transfer reactions, this coupling can become very large, and, therefore, Fermi's GR fails to make even qualitatively accurate rate predictions. In this paper, I present a simple modified GR theory to describe electron transfer in the Marcus inverted regime at arbitrarily large electronic coupling strengths. This theory is based on an optimal global rotation of the diabatic states, which makes it compatible with existing methods for calculating GR rates that can account for nuclear quantum effects with anharmonic potentials. Furthermore, the optimal GR (OGR) theory can also be combined with analytic theories for non-adiabatic rates, such as Marcus theory and Marcus-Levich-Jortner theory, offering clear physical insights into strong electronic coupling effects in non-adiabatic processes. OGR theory is also tested on a large set of spin-boson models and an anharmonic model against exact quantum dynamics calculations, where it performs well, correctly predicting rate turnover at large coupling strengths. Finally, an example application to a boron-dipyrromethane-anthracene photosensitizer reveals that strong coupling effects inhibit excited state charge recombination in this system, reducing the rate of this process by a factor of 4. Overall, OGR theory offers a new approach to calculating electron transfer rates at strong couplings, offering new physical insights into a range of non-adiabatic processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas P Fay
- Institut de Chimie Radicalaire, Aix-Marseille Université, Campus de Saint-Jérôme, Av. Esc. Normandie Niemen, 13397 Marseille, France
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Fay TP, Limmer DT. Unraveling the mechanisms of triplet state formation in a heavy-atom free photosensitizer. Chem Sci 2024; 15:6726-6737. [PMID: 38725521 PMCID: PMC11077524 DOI: 10.1039/d4sc01369g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2024] [Accepted: 03/29/2024] [Indexed: 05/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Triplet excited state generation plays a pivotal role in photosensitizers, however the reliance on transition metals and heavy atoms can limit the utility of these systems. In this study, we demonstrate that an interplay of competing quantum effects controls the high triplet quantum yield in a prototypical boron dipyrromethene-anthracene (BD-An) donor-acceptor dyad photosensitizer, which is only captured by an accurate treatment of both inner and outer sphere reorganization energies. Our ab initio-derived model provides excellent agreement with experimentally measured spectra, triplet yields and excited state kinetic data, including the triplet lifetime. We find that rapid triplet state formation occurs primarily via high-energy triplet states through both spin-orbit coupled charge transfer and El-Sayed's rule breaking intersystem crossing, rather than direct spin-orbit coupled charge transfer to the lowest lying triplet state. Our calculations also reveal that competing effects of nuclear tunneling, electronic state recrossing, and electronic polarizability dictate the rate of non-productive ground state recombination. This study sheds light on the quantum effects driving efficient triplet formation in the BD-An system, and offers a promising simulation methodology for diverse photochemical systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas P Fay
- Department of Chemistry, University of California Berkeley CA 94720 USA
| | - David T Limmer
- Department of Chemistry, University of California Berkeley CA 94720 USA
- Kavli Energy Nanoscience Institute Berkeley CA 94720 USA
- Chemical Science Division Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley CA 94720 USA
- Material Science Division Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley CA 94720 USA
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Lawrence JE, Mannouch JR, Richardson JO. Recovering Marcus Theory Rates and Beyond without the Need for Decoherence Corrections: The Mapping Approach to Surface Hopping. J Phys Chem Lett 2024; 15:707-716. [PMID: 38214476 PMCID: PMC10823533 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c03197] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2023] [Revised: 12/22/2023] [Accepted: 01/05/2024] [Indexed: 01/13/2024]
Abstract
It is well-known that fewest-switches surface hopping (FSSH) fails to correctly capture the quadratic scaling of rate constants with diabatic coupling in the weak-coupling limit, as expected from Fermi's golden rule and Marcus theory. To address this deficiency, the most widely used approach is to introduce a "decoherence correction", which removes the inconsistency between the wave function coefficients and the active state. Here we investigate the behavior of a new nonadiabatic trajectory method, called the mapping approach to surface hopping (MASH), on systems that exhibit an incoherent rate behavior. Unlike FSSH, MASH hops between active surfaces deterministically and can never have an inconsistency between the wave function coefficients and the active state. We show that MASH not only can describe rates for intermediate and strong diabatic coupling but also can accurately reproduce the results of Marcus theory in the golden-rule limit, without the need for a decoherence correction. MASH is therefore a significant improvement over FSSH in the simulation of nonadiabatic reactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph E. Lawrence
- Department
of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH
Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Jonathan R. Mannouch
- Hamburg
Center for Ultrafast Imaging, Universität
Hamburg and Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of
Matter, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Jeremy O. Richardson
- Department
of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH
Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland
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Wenzel M, Mitric R. Prediction of fluorescence quantum yields using the extended thawed Gaussian approximation. J Chem Phys 2023; 159:234113. [PMID: 38108487 DOI: 10.1063/5.0178106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2023] [Accepted: 11/26/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Spontaneous emission and internal conversion rates are calculated within harmonic approximations and compared to the results obtained within the semi-classical extended thawed Gaussian approximation (ETGA). This is the first application of the ETGA in the calculation of internal conversion and emission rates for real molecular systems, namely, formaldehyde, fluorobenzene, azulene, and a dicyano-squaraine dye. The viability of the models as black-box tools for prediction of spontaneous emission and internal conversion rates is assessed. All calculations were done using a consistent protocol in order to investigate how different methods perform without previous experimental knowledge using density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) with B3LYP, PBE0, ωB97XD, and CAM-B3LYP functionals. Contrasting the results with experimental data shows that there are further improvements required before theoretical predictions of emission and internal conversion rates can be used as reliable indicators for the photo-luminescence properties of molecules. We find that the ETGA performs rather similar to the vertical harmonical model. Including anharmonicities in the calculation of internal conversion rates has a moderate effect on the quantitative results in the studied systems. The emission rates are fairly stable with respect to computational parameters, but the internal conversion rate reveals itself to be highly dependent on the choice of the spectral line shape function, particularly the width of the Lorentzian function, associated with homogeneous broadening.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Wenzel
- Institut für Physikalische und Theoretische Chemie, Universität Würzburg, Emil-Fischer Str. 42, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Roland Mitric
- Institut für Physikalische und Theoretische Chemie, Universität Würzburg, Emil-Fischer Str. 42, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
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Fang W, Heller ER, Richardson JO. Competing quantum effects in heavy-atom tunnelling through conical intersections. Chem Sci 2023; 14:10777-10785. [PMID: 37829019 PMCID: PMC10566476 DOI: 10.1039/d3sc03706a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2023] [Accepted: 09/07/2023] [Indexed: 10/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Thermally activated chemical reactions are typically understood in terms of overcoming potential-energy barriers. However, standard rate theories break down in the presence of a conical intersection (CI) because these processes are inherently nonadiabatic, invalidating the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. Moreover, CIs give rise to intricate nuclear quantum effects such as tunnelling and the geometric phase, which are neglected by standard trajectory-based simulations and remain largely unexplored in complex molecular systems. We present new semiclassical transition-state theories based on an extension of golden-rule instanton theory to describe nonadiabatic tunnelling through CIs and thus provide an intuitive picture for the reaction mechanism. We apply the method in conjunction with first-principles electronic-structure calculations to the electron transfer in the bis(methylene)-adamantyl cation. Our study reveals a strong competition between heavy-atom tunnelling and geometric-phase effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Fang
- Department of Chemistry, Fudan University Shanghai 200438 P. R. China
- Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zürich 8093 Zürich Switzerland
| | - Eric R Heller
- Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zürich 8093 Zürich Switzerland
| | - Jeremy O Richardson
- Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zürich 8093 Zürich Switzerland
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Pollak E, Miret-Artés S. Recent Developments in Kramers' Theory of Reaction Rates. Chemphyschem 2023; 24:e202300272. [PMID: 37537153 DOI: 10.1002/cphc.202300272] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2023] [Revised: 05/26/2023] [Indexed: 08/05/2023]
Abstract
In this short review, we provide an update of recent developments in Kramers' theory of reaction rates. After a brief introduction stressing the importance of this theory initially developed for chemical reactions, we briefly present the main theoretical formalism starting from the generalized Langevin equation and continue by showing the main points of the modern Pollak, Grabert and Hänggi theory. Kramers' theory is then sketched for quantum and classical surface diffusion. As an illustration the surface diffusion of Na atoms on a Cu(110) surface is discussed showing escape rates, jump distributions and diffusion coefficients as a function of reduced friction. Finally, some very recent applications of turnover theory to different fields such as nanoparticle levitation, microcavity polariton dynamics and simulation of reaction in liquids are presented. We end with several open problems and future challenges faced up by Kramers turnover theory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eli Pollak
- Chemical and Biological Physics Department, Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100, Rehovoth, Israel
| | - Salvador Miret-Artés
- Instituto de Física Fundamental, Consejo, Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Serrano 123, 28006, Madrid, Spain
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Rooein M, Varganov SA. How to calculate the rate constants for nonradiative transitions between the MS components of spin multiplets? Mol Phys 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/00268976.2022.2116364] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Mitra Rooein
- Department of Chemistry, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
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Heller ER, Richardson JO. Heavy‐Atom Quantum Tunnelling in Spin Crossovers of Nitrenes**. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2022; 61:e202206314. [PMID: 35698730 PMCID: PMC9540336 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202206314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2022] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
We simulate two recent matrix‐isolation experiments at cryogenic temperatures, in which a nitrene undergoes spin crossover from its triplet state to a singlet state via quantum tunnelling. We detail the failure of the commonly applied weak‐coupling method (based on a linear approximation of the potentials) in describing these deep‐tunnelling reactions. The more rigorous approach of semiclassical golden‐rule instanton theory in conjunction with double‐hybrid density‐functional theory and multireference perturbation theory does, however, provide rate constants and kinetic isotope effects in good agreement with experiment. In addition, these calculations locate the optimal tunnelling pathways, which provide a molecular picture of the reaction mechanism. The reactions involve substantial heavy‐atom quantum tunnelling of carbon, nitrogen and oxygen atoms, which unexpectedly even continues to play a role at room temperature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric R. Heller
- Laboratory of Physical Chemistry ETH Zürich 8093 Zürich Switzerland
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Lawrence JE, Richardson JO. Improved microcanonical instanton theory. Faraday Discuss 2022; 238:204-235. [PMID: 35929848 DOI: 10.1039/d2fd00063f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Canonical (thermal) instanton theory is now routinely applicable to complex gas-phase reactions and allows for the accurate description of tunnelling in highly non-separable systems. Microcanonical instanton theory is by contrast far less well established. Here, we demonstrate that the best established microcanonical theory [S. Chapman, B. C. Garrett and W. H. Miller, J. Chem. Phys., 1975, 63, 2710-2716], fails to accurately describe the deep-tunnelling regime for systems where the frequencies of the orthogonal modes change rapidly along the instanton path. By taking a first principles approach to the derivation of microcanonical instanton theory, we obtain an improved method, which accurately recovers the thermal instanton rate when integrated over energy. The resulting theory also correctly recovers the separable limit and can be thought of as an instanton generalisation of Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus (RRKM) theory. When combined with the density-of-states approach [W. Fang, P. Winter and J. O. Richardson, J. Chem. Theory Comput., 2021, 17, 40-55], this new method can be straightforwardly applied to real molecular systems.
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Heller ER, Richardson JO. Heavy‐Atom Quantum Tunnelling in Spin Crossovers of Nitrenes. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/ange.202206314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Eric R Heller
- Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule Zurich Lab. Physical Chemistry SWITZERLAND
| | - Jeremy O Richardson
- Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich Lab. Physical Chemistry Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 2 8093 Zurich SWITZERLAND
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