title: Ultrafast Dynamics of Hydrogen Bond Breaking and Making in the Excited State of Fluoren-9-one: Time-Resolved Visible Pump-IR Probe Spectroscopic Study.
abstract: The fluoren-9-one (FL) molecule, with a single hydrogen bond-accepting site (C═O group), has been used as a probe for investigation of the dynamics of a hydrogen bond in its lowest excited singlet (S1) state using the subpicosecond time-resolved visible pump-IR probe spectroscopic technique. In 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP), a strong hydrogen bond-donating solvent, the formation of an FL-alcohol hydrogen-bonded complex in the ground electronic (S0) state is nearly complete, with a negligible concentration of the FL molecule remaining free in solution. In addition to the presence of a band due to the hydrogen-bonded complex in the transient IR spectrum recorded immediately after photoexcitation of FL in HFIP solution, appearance of the absorption band due to a free C═O stretch provides confirmatory evidence of ultrafast photodissociation of hydrogen bonds in some of the complexes formed in the S0state. The peak-shift dynamics of the C═O stretch bands reveal two major relaxation pathways, namely, vibrational relaxation in the S1state of the free FL molecules and the solvent reorganization process in the hydrogen-bonded complex. The latter process follows bimodal exponential dynamics involving hydrogen bond-making and hydrogen bond-reorganization processes. The similar lifetimes of the S1states of the FL molecules, both free and hydrogen-bonded, suggest establishment of a dynamic equilibrium between these two species in the excited state. However, investigations in two other weaker hydrogen bond-donating solvents, namely, trifluoroethanol (TFE) and perdeuterated methanol (CD3OD), reveal different features of peak-shift dynamics because of the prominence of the vibrational relaxation process over the hydrogen bond-reorganization process during the early time.
authors.affiliation: Radiation and Photochemistry Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre , Mumbai-400094, India.
authors.forename: Rajib
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.affiliation: Radiation and Photochemistry Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre , Mumbai-400094, India.
authors.forename: Aruna K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Mora
authors.affiliation: Radiation and Photochemistry Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre , Mumbai-400094, India.
authors.forename: Sukhendu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nath
authors.affiliation: Radiation and Photochemistry Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre , Mumbai-400094, India.
authors.forename: Dipak K
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0262-9078
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Palit