title: Excited state hydrogen transfer dynamics in substituted phenols and their complexes with ammonia: ππ*-πσ* energy gap propensity and ortho-substitution effect.
abstract: Lifetimes of the first electronic excited state (S(1)) of fluorine and methyl (o-, m-, and p-) substituted phenols and their complexes with one ammonia molecule have been measured for the 0(0) transition and for the intermolecular stretching σ(1) levels in complexes using picosecond pump-probe spectroscopy. Excitation energies to the S(1) (ππ*) and S(2) (πσ*) states are obtained by quantum chemical calculations at the MP2 and CC2 level using the aug-cc-pVDZ basis set for the ground-state and the S(1) optimized geometries. The observed lifetimes and the energy gaps between the ππ* and πσ* states show a good correlation, the lifetime being shorter for a smaller energy gap. This propensity suggests that the major dynamics in the excited state concerns an excited state hydrogen detachment or transfer (ESHD/T) promoted directly by a S(1)/S(2) conical intersection, rather than via internal conversion to the ground-state. A specific shortening of lifetime is found in the o-fluorophenol-ammonia complex and explained in terms of the vibronic coupling between the ππ* and πσ* states occurring through the out-of-plane distortion of the C-F bond.
authors.affiliation: INFIQC-Dpto. de Fisicoquímica, Fac. de Cs. Químicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Ciudad Universitaria, Córdoba 5000, Argentina.
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Pino
authors.forename: A N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Oldani
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Marceca
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.forename: S-I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Ishiuchi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miyazaki
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Broquier
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dedonder
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jouvet