Ultrafast Proton-Transfer and Coherent Wavepacket Motion of Electronically Excited 1,8-Dihydroxyanthraquinone in Liquid Benzyl Alcohol Solution

Two-dimensional confinement for generating thin single crystals for applications in time-resolved electron diffraction and spectroscopy: an intramolecular proton transfer study

Thin single organic crystals (≤1 μm) with large area (≥100 × 100 μm²) are desirable to explore photoinduced processes using ultrafast spectroscopy and electron-diffraction. Here, we present a general method based on spatial confinement to grow such crystals using the prototypical proton transfer system, 1,5-dihydroxyanthraquinone, as an example, and provide the protocol for optically characterizing structural dynamics to enable proper assignments using diffraction methods.

Excited-state intramolecular hydrogen transfer (ESIHT) of 1,8-dihydroxy-9,10-anthraquinone (DHAQ) characterized by ultrafast electronic and vibrational spectroscopy and computational modeling

We combine ultrafast electronic and vibrational spectroscopy and computational modeling to investigate the photoinduced excited-state intramolecular hydrogen-transfer dynamics in 1,8-dihydroxy-9,10-anthraquinone (DHAQ) in tetrachloroethene, acetonitrile, dimethyl sulfoxide, and methanol. We analyze the electronic excited states of DHAQ with various possible hydrogen-bonding schemes and provide a general description of the electronic excited-state dynamics based on a systematic analysis of femtosecond UV/vis and UV/IR pump-probe spectroscopic data. Upon photoabsorption at 400 nm, the S2 electronic excited state is initially populated, followed by a rapid equilibration within 150 fs through population transfer to the S1 state where DHAQ exhibits ESIHT dynamics. In this equilibration process, the excited-state population is distributed between the 9,10-quinone (S2) and 1,10-quinone (S1) states while undergoing vibrational energy redistribution, vibrational cooling, and solvation dynamics on the 0.1-50 ps time scale. Transient UV/vis pump-probe data in methanol also suggest additional relaxation dynamics on the subnanosecond time scale, which we tentatively ascribe to hydrogen bond dynamics of DHAQ with the protic solvent, affecting the equilibrium population dynamics within the S2 and S1 electronic excited states. Ultimately, the two excited singlet states decay with a solvent-dependent time constant ranging from 139 to 210 ps. The concomitant electronic ground-state recovery is, however, only partial because a large fraction of the population relaxes to the first triplet state. From the similarity of the time scales involved, we conjecture that the solvent plays a crucial role in breaking the intramolecular hydrogen bond of DHAQ during the S2/S1 relaxation to either the ground or triplet state.

Spectroscopic studies of fluorescent dye N, N'- bis(2-hydroxy-5-methyl-benzylidene)-1,2-ethanediamine and its DNA complex in solution

Absorption and fluorescence emission properties of an N-salicylideneamine fluorescent dye molecule N, N'-bis(2-hydroxy-5-methylbenzylidene)-1,2-ethanediamine (1) have been studied in three typical solvents--2-methylbutane, ethanol, dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO), and its DNA complex in methanol/H2O mixed solvent. The normal absorption band of 1 is observed in both aprotic and protic solvents and has been assigned to the l --> a(pi) transition in the enol form of 1. The long-wavelength absorption band of 1, which is caused by the formation of a cis-keto species in the ground state, is absent in aprotic solvents, but is observable in protic ones. Normal fluorescence emission from the excited enol state of 1 is obtained only when the normal absorption band is excited, while the excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) emissions from both cis- and trans-keto species are recorded in all cases, being acceptable for the variation of the relative emission intensities. A preliminary spectroscopic study of the 1-DNA complex indicates an intercalation-binding mode, the convincing supporting evidence being the enhanced ESIPT fluorescence intensity of 1 when complexed with DNA. Finally, a universal energy-state diagram is given to interpret the experimental results.