Intramolecular photo-driven charge transfer in a series of pyridyl substituted phenyloxazoles. Structural relaxation in meta-substituted ethylpyridinium derivative of phenyloxazole.

A series of pyridyl (pyridinium) substituted benzoxazoles were studied by steady state absorption, fluorescence spectroscopy, time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy, fs pulse absorption and polarization spectroscopy, and quantum-chemical calculations. The spectral and kinetic parameters of the fluorophores in MeCN and EtOAc were obtained experimentally and were calculated by means of DFT and TDDFT methods. A scheme including four transient excited states was proposed for the interpretation of differential absorption kinetics of the charged fluorophores. Expressions describing the actual kinetics graphs, the decay associated spectra, and the species-associated spectra were derived. The charge shift step was found to be dependent on average solvation times. A charge shift followed by the formation of the twisted conformer was found for the excited 1-ethyl-3-(5-phenyloxazol-2-yl)pyridinium 4-methyl-1-benzenesulfonate in MeCN and EtOAc. Conformational analysis confirms a large amplitude motion of the meta-substituted ethylpyridinium group as an additional structural relaxation path producing an abnormally large fluorescence Stokes shift.

Femtosecond excited state dynamics of stilbene-viologen complexes with a weakly pronounced charge transfer.

The femtosecond dynamics of photoinduced electron transfers in supramolecular donor-acceptor complexes between (E)-bis(18-crown-6)stilbene (D) and tetraperchlorates of 2,7-di(2-ammonioethyl)(2,7-diazapyrenium) (A1), 3,3'-(E)-ethene-1,2-diylbis[1-(3-ammoniopropyl)pyridinium] (A2) and 4,4'-ethane-1,2-diylbis[1-(3-ammoniopropyl)pyridinium] (A3) was studied. The acceptors A2 and A3 are weak electron acceptors whose first reduction potentials are equal to -1.0 and -1.2 V (Ag), respectively, while A1 is a strong acceptor with a reduction potential of -0.42 V. It was shown that the back electron transfer time in CT-states of the complexes D·A2 and D·A3 is 30-40 ps, which is approximately 50 times greater than the analogous time for the charge transfer complexes studied earlier. The complex D·A1 is characterized by ultrafast back electron transfer (770 fs). The relaxation pathway of excited states of D·A1 depends on the wavelength of the excitation light. When excited at 356 nm, the accumulation of a transient locally excited (LE) state with a 250 fs lifetime was observed. But when excited at 425 nm, the formation of the LE-state was not observed.

Formation of a supramolecular charge-transfer complex. Ultrafast excited state dynamics and quantum-chemical calculations.

The formation of a supramolecular complex of bis(18-crown-6)stilbene (1) and 4,4'-bipyridine with two ammoniopropyl N-substituents (3) and the substitution reaction between 1·3 and alkali and alkaline-earth metal perchlorates have been studied using absorption, steady-state fluorescence, and femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. The formation of 1·(Mn+)2 complexes in acetonitrile was demonstrated. The weak long-wavelength charge-transfer absorption band of 1·3 completely vanishes upon complexation with metal cations because of disruption of the pseudocyclic structure. The spectroscopic and luminescence parameters, stability and substitution constants were calculated. The relaxation scheme of the 1·3 singlet state excited by a 25 fs laser pulse was proposed. It includes very fast vibrational relaxation and direct (τCT-d = 0.32 ps) and back (τCT-b = 0.51 ps) electron transfer resulting in complete fluorescence quenching. The quantum-chemistry calculations revealed the species taking part in the ET process and elucidated the mechanism of relaxation of the excited complex.

Femtosecond excited state dynamics of a stilbene-viologen charge transfer complex assembled via host-guest interaction.

The dynamics of the excited states of a supramolecular complex with a charge transfer between (E)-bis(18-crown-6)stilbene and 4,4'-(E)-ethene-1,2-diylbis[1-(2-ammonioethyl)pyridinium]tetraperchlorate was studied by means of femtosecond transient spectroscopy. It is found that the characteristic time of the conversion of the locally excited (LE) state into the charge transfer (CT) state is equal to 300 fs, whereas the characteristic time of the conversion of the CT state into the ground state is equal to 400 fs. Due to host-guest interaction involving hydrogen bonds, the complex possesses high thermodynamic stability. As a result of ultrafast photoinduced processes of the direct and back electron transfer, the complex does not fluoresce. Upon the interaction of the complex with alkaline-earth metal cations, "switch-on" of its fluorescence occurs.