Neutral vs Charged Luminescent Radicals: Anti-Kasha Emission and the Impact of Molecular Surrounding.

Organic luminescent materials attract growing interest as an elegant solution for sustainable and inexpensive light-emitting devices. Most of them are neutral-emitting molecules with an implicit restriction of 25% internal quantum efficiency due to a spin-forbidden nature of the T1 → S0 transition. Utilizing organic radicals allows one to overcome such limits by theoretically boosting quantum yield up to 100%. Recently, different light-emitting radicals based on carbonyl- and carboxyl-substituted benzenes were synthesized and stabilized in different polymer matrices or ionic liquids. While some of them were proved to be suitable luminescent materials, the exact theoretical explanation of the nature of their emission is missing. There are two main hypotheses proposed in the literature. The first one suggests that the origin of luminescence is D2 → D0 anti-Kasha emission from anion radicals, while the second theory is based on D1 → D0 Kasha emission from neutral protonated radicals. In this work, we investigate both hypotheses and compare their derivatives with the available experimental data. We used density functional theory and complete-active space perturbation theory to investigate the absorption and emission properties in various aromatic carbonyl radicals. We found that both emission mechanisms can coexist simultaneously, with a dominant emission contribution made by anion radicals because of better agreement between oscillator strengths and radiative rate constants. Our numerical simulations agree with the experimental data and provide theoretical foundations for the fabrication of next-generation light-emitting devices based on luminescent radicals.

First-principles calculations of anharmonic and deuteration effects on the photophysical properties of polyacenes and porphyrinoids.

A new method for calculating internal conversion rate constants (k[combining low line]IC), including anharmonic effects and using the Lagrangian multiplier technique, is proposed. The deuteration effect on k[combining low line]IC is investigated for naphthalene, anthracene, free-base porphyrin (H2P) and tetraphenylporphyrin (H2TPP). The results show that anharmonic effects are important when calculating k[combining low line]IC for transitions between electronic states that are energetically separated (ΔE) by more than 20 000-25 000 cm-1. Anharmonic effects are also important when ΔE < 20 000-25 000 cm-1 and when the accepting modes are X-H stretching vibrations with a frequency larger than 2000 cm-1. The calculations show that there is mixing between the S1 and S2 states of naphthalene induced by non-adiabatic interactions. The non-adiabatic interaction matrix element between the S1 and S2 states is 250 cm-1 and 50 cm-1 for the normal and fully deuterated naphthalene structure and this difference significantly affects the estimated fluorescence quantum yield. Besides aromatic hydrocarbons H2P and H2TPP, the k[combining low line]IC rate constant is also calculated for pyrometene (PM567) and tetraoxa[8]circulene (4B) with a detailed analysis of the effect of the vibrational anharmonicity.

Aromaticity and photophysics of tetrasila- and tetragerma-annelated tetrathienylenes as new representatives of the hetero[8]circulene family.

The electronic structure, absorption and emission spectra, aromaticity and photophysical behavior of the recently synthesized tetrasilatetrathia[8]circulene and tetragermatetrathia[8]circulene compounds have been studied computationally. Both compounds demonstrate a specific bifacial aromaticity, which is unusual for hetero[8]circulenes; the inner eight-membered core sustains an expected strong paratropic magnetically-induced ring current, while the outer perimeter contains saturated Si(Et)2 and Ge(Et)2 moieties which break the conjugation between the thiophene rings. The overall magnetically-induced ring current for both studied circulenes is close to zero because of the strong local diatropic currents in each thiophene ring that compensate the paratropic counterpart. The electronic absorption and emission spectra of tetrasilatetrathia[8]circulene and tetragermatetrathia[8]circulene demonstrate a clear visible vibronic progression. The 0-0 band is the most active one in the absorption spectra, while in the fluorescence spectra the 0-1 band composed of several normal vibrations is more intense compared with the 0-0 band in excellent agreement with experiment. Accounting for spin-orbit coupling effects, an analysis of the photophysical constants for the two compounds demonstrates: (1) a clear manifestation of the internal heavy atom effect on the inter-system crossing efficiency; (2) one to two order domination of non-radiative rates over the fluorescence rate; and (3) that the S1-S0 internal conversion is extremely slow and can not compete with the fluorescence, while the S1-Tn inter-system crossing is a main deactivation channel of the S1 excited state. These results provide new insight into the electronic structure and photophysics of tetrasilatetrathia[8]circulene and tetragermatetrathia[8]circulene as novel standalone representatives of hetero[8]circulenes - tetraannelated derivatives of tetrathienylene.

Relations between the aromaticity and magnetic dipole transitions in the electronic spectra of hetero[8]circulenes.

Magnetically induced current densities have been calculated at the second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) level for seven hetero[8]circulenes and their dicationic and dianionic forms. Calculations of the magnetic dipole transition moments have also been carried out at the algebraic diagrammatic construction (ADC(2)) and the second-order approximate coupled-cluster (CC2) levels. The calculations show that the degree of aromaticity and the size of the magnetic dipole transition moment of the lowest magnetic-dipole allowed excited state are related. We show that neutral hetero[8]circulenes are weakly antiaromatic when the first excited state with a large magnetic dipole transition moment of 10-16 a.u. lies at high energies (∼2.8-3.5 eV). For the dications, this transition often lies at much lower energies. Hetero[8]circulene dications with large magnetic dipole transition moments are strongly antiaromatic. The lowest excited states of the hetero[8]circulene dianions have very small magnetic dipole transition moments implying that they are aromatic.

Identification of tautomeric intermediates of a novel thiazolylazonaphthol dye - A density functional theory study.

The recently synthesized thiazolylazo dye, 1-[5-benzyl-1,3-thiazol-2-yl)diazenyl]naphthalene-2-ol called shortly BnTAN, is studied by density functional theory (DFT) in three tautomeric forms in order to explain the available 1H NMR, UV-Vis and FTIR spectra. An experimentally observed IR band at 1678 cm-1, assigned to the CO bond stretching vibration, supports the notion that BnTAN retains in the less stable keto-form even in the solid state due to an ultrafast single-coordinate intramolecular proton transfer. This finding is also in a good agreement with an X-ray crystallography analysis which indicates an intermediate position of the proton between the -OH and -N=N- groups. Calculations also show that some experimentally observed 1H NMR signals could be considered as being averaged values between theoretically calculated chemical shifts for the corresponding protons in the keto- and enol-tautomers. At the same time the UV-Vis spectra are almost insensitive to the tautomerization processes as the main single band absorption at 500 nm is present in all tautomers according to our TD DFT simulations. The minor differences in spectral features of the long-wavelength visible region are also noted and discussed with respect to the manifestation of the less stable tautomer form.

First-principles method for calculating the rate constants of internal-conversion and intersystem-crossing transitions.

A method for calculating the rate constants for internal-conversion (kIC) and intersystem-crossing (kISC) processes within the adiabatic and Franck-Condon (FC) approximations is proposed. The applicability of the method is demonstrated by calculation of kIC and kISC for a set of organic and organometallic compounds with experimentally known spectroscopic properties. The studied molecules were pyrromethene-567 dye, psoralene, hetero[8]circulenes, free-base porphyrin, naphthalene, and larger polyacenes. We also studied fac-Alq3 and fac-Ir(ppy)3, which are important molecules in organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). The excitation energies were calculated at the multi-configuration quasi-degenerate second-order perturbation theory (XMC-QDPT2) level, which is found to yield excitation energies in good agreement with experimental data. Spin-orbit coupling matrix elements, non-adiabatic coupling matrix elements, Huang-Rhys factors, and vibrational energies were calculated at the time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) and complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) levels. The computed fluorescence quantum yields for the pyrromethene-567 dye, psoralene, hetero[8]circulenes, fac-Alq3 and fac-Ir(ppy)3 agree well with experimental data, whereas for the free-base porphyrin, naphthalene, and the polyacenes, the obtained quantum yields significantly differ from the experimental values, because the FC and adiabatic approximations are not accurate for these molecules.

Aromaticity of the planar hetero[8]circulenes and their doubly charged ions: NICS and GIMIC characterization.

A series of planar hetero[8]circulenes and their doubly charged ions are studied by the NICS and GIMIC methods to interpret the aromatic properties of these high symmetry species. In accordance with the performed calculations all studied hetero[8]circulenes are found to be nonaromatic compounds because paratropic and diatropic ring-currents are completely canceled yielding almost zero net current. In great contrast, the dicationic and dianionic hetero[8]circulenes demonstrate the predominant contribution of diatropic ring currents resulting in the total aromatic character of the studied doubly charged ions. This fact allows us to predict the high stability of dianionic hetero[8]circulenes and explains the extremely high stability of dicationic species observed in the mass-spectra.

Fragmentation of the adenine and guanine molecules induced by electron collisions.

Secondary electron emission is the most important stage in the mechanism of radiation damage to DNA biopolymers induced by primary ionizing radiation. These secondary electrons ejected by the primary electron impacts can produce further ionizations, initiating an avalanche effect, leading to genome damage through the energy transfer from the primary objects to sensitive biomolecular targets, such as nitrogenous bases, saccharides, and other DNA and peptide components. In this work, the formation of positive and negative ions of purine bases of nucleic acids (adenine and guanine molecules) under the impact of slow electrons (from 0.1 till 200 eV) is studied by the crossed electron and molecular beams technique. The method used makes it possible to measure the molecular beam intensity and determine the total cross-sections for the formation of positive and negative ions of the studied molecules, their energy dependences, and absolute values. It is found that the maximum cross section for formation of the adenine and guanine positive ions is reached at about 90 eV energy of the electron beam and their absolute values are equal to 2.8 × 10(-15) and 3.2 × 10(-15) cm(2), respectively. The total cross section for formation of the negative ions is 6.1 × 10(-18) and 7.6 × 10(-18) cm(2) at the energy of 1.1 eV for adenine and guanine, respectively. The absolute cross-section values for the molecular ions are measured and the cross-sections of dissociative ionization are determined. Quantum chemical calculations are performed for the studied molecules, ions and fragments for interpretation of the crossed beams experiments.

Patterns of nucleotide misincorporations during enzymatic amplification and direct large-scale sequencing of ancient DNA.

Whereas evolutionary inferences derived from present-day DNA sequences are by necessity indirect, ancient DNA sequences provide a direct view of past genetic variants. However, base lesions that accumulate in DNA over time may cause nucleotide misincorporations when ancient DNA sequences are replicated. By repeated amplifications of mitochondrial DNA sequences from a large number of ancient wolf remains, we show that C/G-to-T/A transitions are the predominant type of such misincorporations. Using a massively parallel sequencing method that allows large numbers of single DNA strands to be sequenced, we show that modifications of C, as well as to a lesser extent of G, residues cause such misincorporations. Experiments where oligonucleotides containing modified bases are used as templates in amplification reactions suggest that both of these types of misincorporations can be caused by deamination of the template bases. New DNA sequencing methods in conjunction with knowledge of misincorporation processes have now, in principle, opened the way for the determination of complete genomes from organisms that became extinct during and after the last glaciation.