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The crystal structure of 2-butylamino-4-nitro-5-methyl pyridine N-oxide (2B5M) and solution studies of both 2B5M and 2-methylamino-4-nitro-5-methyl pyridine (2M5M) N-oxide are presented. Steady-state absorption and emission measurements were employed for both molecules while a picosecond fluorescence up-conversion technique was used to follow the dynamic behavior of the 2M5M system. The experimental methods were complemented by DFT and TD DFT B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) calculations involving ground and excited-state optimization which in the case of the smaller 2M5M molecule were extended to the CAM-B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) method. The solvent effect is incorporated by applying the polarizable continuum (PCM) model. The data reveal that the 2B5M molecule crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P2(1)/c and its crystal lattice is composed of monomers with intramolecular N-H···O [2.572(3) Å] hydrogen bonds, connected into a polymer network by weak intermolecular C-H…O [3.2-3.4 Å]-type interactions. Quantum-chemical calculations show that the aminoalkyl substitutent in aminoalkyl-pyridine N-oxides is a specific determinant of the CT nature of the lowest-lying excited electronic ππ* state, distinguishing them from other nitroaromatic compounds. The results of both picosecond fluorescence up-conversion experiments in different solvents and quantum-chemical calculations suggest that in nonpolar media the ESIPT process in 2M5M is favored, while in polar acetonitrile, the N* → PT* transition demands barrier-crossing and thus unfavorable thermodynamic conditions do not allow the ESIPT to occur. The signals of picosecond fluorescence up-conversion of 2M5M are solvent- and emission-wavelength dependent. The three time components found in a weakly polar isooctane-dioxane mixture have been attributed to solvation dynamics (∼500 fs), and to relaxation of N* and PT* forms while in acetonitrile, a very rapid fluorescence decay with a time constant (2.3-4.0 ps) indicative of the presence of the normal (N*) form was observed. Much shorter fluorescence lifetimes in alcohols (a few picoseconds) and in D(2)O (less than 200 fs) than in aprotic solvents suggest that in protic media, the solvent molecules participate in the ESIPT, bridging between the methylamine group and the N-oxide group of 2M5M.

A femtosecond pump-probe, with approximately 150 fs resolution, as well as time-correlated single photon counting with approximately 10 ps resolution techniques are used to probe the excited-state intermolecular proton transfer from HPTS to water. The pump-probe signal consists of two ultrafast components (approximately 0.8 and 3 ps) that precede the relatively slow (approximately 100 ps) component. From a comparative study of the excited acid properties in water and methanol and of its conjugate base in basic solution of water, we propose a modified mechanism for the ESPT consisting of two reactive steps followed by a diffusive step. In the first, fast, step the photoacid dissociates at about 10 ps to form a contact ion pair RO-*...H3O+. The contact ion pair recombines efficiently to re-form the photoacid with a recombination rate constant twice as large as the dissociation rate constant. The first-step equilibrium constant value is about 0.5 and thus, at short times, <10 ps, only approximately 30% of the excited photoacid molecules are in the form of the conjugated base-proton contact ion pair. In the second, slower, step, of about 100 ps, the proton is separated by at least one water molecule from the conjugate base RO-. The separated proton and the conjugated base can recombine geminately as described by our previous diffusion-assisted model. The new two-step reactive model predicts that the population of the ROH form of HPTS will decrease with two time constants and the RO- population will increase by the same time constants. The proposed model fits the experimental data of this study as well as previous published experimental data.

The pressure dependence of the excited-state proton dissociation rate constant of four photoacids, 2-naphthol-6,8-disulfonate (2N68DS), 10-hydroxycamptothecin (10-CPT), 5-cyano-2-naphthol (5CN2), and 5,8-dicyano-2-naphthol (DCN2), are studied in methanol. The results are compared with the results of the pressure dependence study we recently conducted for several photoacids in water, ethanol, and propanol. The pressure dependence is explained using an approximate stepwise two-coordinate proton transfer model. The increase in rate, as a function of pressure, manifests a strong dependence of proton tunneling on the distance which decreases with an increase of pressure between the two oxygen atoms involved in the process. The decrease in the proton transfer rate with increasing pressure reflects the dependence of the reaction on the solvent relaxation rate. We found that, for the relatively weak photoacids 2N68DS, 10-CPT, and 5CN2, the proton transfer rate constant increases by a factor of about 5-8 at a pressure of about 1.5 GPa. For a strong photoacid like DCN2, the rate increase was only by a factor of 2.

Steady-state and time-resolved UV-vis spectroscopies were used to study the photoprotolytic properties of lumazine, which belongs to a class of biologically important compounds the petridines. We found that in water an excited-state proton transfer occurs with a time constant of ~70 ps and competes with a nonradiative rate of about the same value. The nonradiative rate of the protonated form of lumazine in polar and nonpolar solvents is large knr = 1.5 × 1010s-1. The fluorescence properties indicate that in water, the ground-state neutral form of lumazine is already stable in two tautomeric forms. The fluorescence of the deprotonated form is quenched by protons in acidic solutions with a diffusion-controlled reaction rate. We conclude that the neutral form of lumazine is an irreversible mild photoacid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UV–vis steady-state and time-resolved emission techniques were employed to study the ultrafast relaxation path of all-trans-retinal. We found that the steady-state emission spectrum consists mainly of two bands that we assign to the allowed transition from thestate and the forbidden transition from the(ππ*) state. The time-resolved emission signal is dependent on the excitation wavelength, and is composed of three decay components. The short-time component of less than 80 fs, irrespective of the solvent, is assigned to the transition from thestate. The intermediate-time decay component is assigned to the transition from the(ππ*) state, depends on the solvent’s polarity and not on the existence of hydrogen bonds between the solute and the solvent or the viscosity of the latter. It has a lifetime of ~1 ps in polar solvents, and of 0.6 and 0.4 ps in the non-polar solventsn-octane and cyclohexane, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Two very strong photoacids QCy7, , and QCy9, , are studied in three protic solvents, water, MeOH and EtOH. [•] Weak photoacids do not transfer a proton to alcohols within the excited state lifetime, whereas strong photoacids do. [•] In QCy7 the ESPT rate constant, k PT in water, methanol and ethanol is 1.2×1012, 8×1011 and 7×1011 respectively. [•] The ESPT rate of QCy9 in these solvents is the same, k PT ∼1013 s−1. [•] Non-adiabatic and adiabatic PT theories explain the k PT solvent dependence of weak and very strong photoacids respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The photoprotolytic properties of a recently synthesized photoacid, hydroxycoumarin-dipicolinium salt (HCD) were studied by means of time-resolved emission techniques. We found that HCD is a super-photoacid with and with an excited-state proton transfer to water with a rate constant of . We also found that HCD undergoes ESPT in a large number of protic solvents. The kinetic isotope effect is about two for water, methanol and ethanol. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Time-resolved emission techniques were employed to study the pressure effect on curcumin''s luminescence in several aliphatic alcohols. We found that the hydrostatic pressure of up to 2GPa affects the decay rate of curcumin emission in the same way it affects the protonated form of many photoacids. We therefore propose that curcumin, which has two phenol groups, is a strong photoacid. Strong photoacids with pK a*<0 can transfer a proton not only to water but also to alcohols, as curcumin does in these solvents. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A computational model of nonradiative decay is developed and applied to explain the time-dependent emission spectrum of thioflavin T (ThT). The computational model is based on a previous model developed by Glasbeek and co-workers (van der Meer, M. J.; Zhang, H.; Glasbeek, M ; J. Chem. Phys. 2000, 112, 2878) for auramine O, a molecule that, like ThT, exhibits a high nonradiative rate. The nonradiative rates of both auramine O and ThT are inversely proportional to the solvent viscosity. The Glasbeek model assumes that the excited state consists of an adiabatic potential surface constructed by adiabatic coupling of emissive and dark states. For ThT, the twist angle between the benzothiazole and the aniline is responsible for the extensive mixing of the two excited states. At a twist angle of 90°, the S1 state assumes a charge-transfer-state character with very small oscillator strength, which causes the emission intensity to be very small as well. In the ground state, the twist angle of ThT is rather small. The photoexcitation leads first to a strongly emissive state (small twist angle). As time progresses, the twist angle increases and the oscillator strength decreases. The fit of the experimental results by the model calculations is good for times longer than 3 ps. When a two-coordinate model is invoked or a solvation spectral-shift component is added, the fit to the experimental results is good at all times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied the direct proton transfer (PT) from electronically excited d-luciferin to several mild bases. The fluorescence up-conversion technique is used to measure the rise and decay of the fluorescence signals of the protonated and deprotonated species of d-luciferin. From a base concentration of 0.25 M or higher the proton transfer rates to the fluoride, dihdyrogen phosphate or acetate bases are fast and comparable. The fluorescence signals are nonexponential and complex. We suggest that the fastest decay component arises from a direct proton transfer process from the hydroxyl group of d-luciferin to the mild base. The proton donor and acceptor molecules form an ion pair prior to photoexcitation. Upon photoexcitation solvent rearrangement occurs on a 1 ps time-scale. The PT reaction time constant is 2 ps for all three bases. A second decay component of about 10 ps is attributed to the proton transfer in a contact pair bridged by one water molecule. The longest decay component is due to both the excited-state proton transfer (ESPT) to the solvent and the diffusion-assisted PT process between a photoacid and a base pair positioned remotely from each other prior to photoexcitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]