Search results for "Conical intersection"

Toward an Understanding of Ultrafast Electron Transfer in Photosynthesis

2008

The mechanism of electron transfer (ET) from reduced pheophytin (Pheo−) to the primary stable photosynthetic acceptor, a quinone (Q) molecule, is addressed by using high-level ab initio computations and realistic molecular models. The results reveal that the ET process involving the (Pheo−+Q) and (Pheo+Q−) oxidation states can be seen essentially as an ultrafast radiationless transition between the two hypersurfaces taking place via conical intersections (CIs) and is favoured when the topology of the interacting moieties makes possible some overlap between the lowest occupied molecular orbitals (LUMO) of the two systems. Thus, it is anticipated that large scale motions, which are difficult …

2014

There have been a number of recent experimental investigations of the nonadiabatic relaxation dynamics of aniline following excitation to the first three singlet excited states, 1(1)ππ*, 1(1)π3s/πσ* and 2(1)ππ*. Motivated by differences between the interpretations of experimental observations, we have employed CASSCF and XMCQDPT2 calculations to explore the potential energy landscape and relaxation pathways of photoexcited aniline. We find a new prefulvene-like MECI connecting the 1(1)ππ* state with the GS in which the carbon-atom carrying the amino group is distorted out-of-plane. This suggests that excitation above the 1(1)π3s/πσ* vertical excitation energy could be followed by electronic…

Can coupled-cluster theory treat conical intersections?

2007

Conical intersections between electronic states are of great importance for the understanding of radiationless ultrafast relaxation processes. In particular, accidental degeneracies of hypersurfaces, i.e., between states of the same symmetry, become increasingly relevant for larger molecular systems. Coupled-cluster theory, including both single and multireference based schemes, offers a size-extensive description of the electronic wave function, but it sacrifices the Hermitian character of the theory. In this contribution, we examine the consequences of anti-Hermitian contributions to the coupling matrix element between near-degenerate states such as linear dependent eigenvectors and compl…

Similar chemical structures, dissimilar triplet quantum yields: a CASPT2 model rationalizing the trend of triplet quantum yields in nitroaromatic sys…

2019

The photophysics of nitroaromatics compounds stand out for being characterized by an ultrafast decay into the triplet manifold and by a significant value of the triplet quantum yield. The latter quantity can change dramatically from one system to another, as proven for the molecules 2- nitronaphthalene, 1-nitronaphthalene, and 2methyl-1nitronaphthale, whose triplet quantum yield have been previously measured to be 0.93 ± 0.15, 0.64 ± 0.12, and 0.33 ± 0.05, respectively (J. Phys. Chem. A 2013, 117, 14100). In the present contribution we rationalize the reported trend for the triplet quantum yield on the basis of the different ability that the excited S 1 state has in the three molecules to r…

Quantum dynamics of the photostability of pyrazine

2015

We investigate the radiationless decay of photoexcited pyrazine to its ground electronic state using multireference electronic structure and quantum dynamics calculations. We construct a quadratic vibronic coupling Hamiltonian, including the four lowest electronic states and ten vibrational modes, by fitting to more than 5000 ab initio points. We then use this model to simulate the non-adiabatic excited state dynamics of the molecule using the multi-configuration time-dependent Hartree method. On the basis of these calculations, we propose a new mechanism for this decay process involving a conical intersection between the Au(nπ*) state and the ground state. After excitation to the B2u(ππ*) …

Basic Concepts and Methodology

2016

In this chapter, the main concepts relevant for the theoretical study of elementary photochemical processes are briefly reviewed. The notions of vibronic coupling and conical intersection are first introduced. The main basic tools from the molecular electronic structure theory and their use for the exploration of potential energy surfaces are then presented.

Short hydrogen bonds enhance non-aromatic protein-related fluorescence

2020

AbstractFluorescence in biological systems is usually associated with the presence of aromatic groups. Here, we show that specific hydrogen bonding networks can significantly affect fluorescence employing a combined experimental and computational approach. In particular, we reveal that the single amino acid L-glutamine, by undergoing a chemical transformation leading to the formation of a short hydrogen bond, displays optical properties that are significantly enhanced compared to L-glutamine itself. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations highlight that these short hydrogen bonds prevent the appearance of a conical intersection between the excited and the ground states and thereby signific…

On the Intrinsically Low Quantum Yields of Pyrimidine DNA Photodamages: Evaluating the Reactivity of the Corresponding Minimum Energy Crossing Points

2020

The low quantum yield of photoformation of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers and pyrimidine-pyrimidone (6-4) adducts in DNA bases is usually associated with the presence of more favorable nonreactive decay paths and with the unlikeliness of exciting the system in a favorable conformation. Here, we prove that the ability of the reactive conical intersection to bring the system either back to the absorbing conformation or to the photoproduct must be considered as a fundamental factor in the low quantum yields of the mentioned photodamage. In support of the proposed model, the one order of magnitude difference in the quantum yield of formation of the cyclobutane thymine dimer with respect to the t…

A Three-State Model for the Photophysics of Adenine

2006

An ab initio theoretical study at the CASPT2 level is reported on minimum energy reaction paths, state minima, transition states, reaction barriers, and conical intersections on the potential energy hypersurfaces of two tautomers of adenine: 9H- and 7H-adenine. The obtained results led to a complete interpretation of the photophysics of adenine and derivatives, both under jet-cooled conditions and in solution, within a three-state model. The ultrafast subpicosecond fluorescence decay measured in adenine is attributed to the low-lying conical intersection (gs/pipi* La)(CI), reached from the initially populated 1(pipi* La) state along a path which is found to be barrierless only in 9H-adenine…

Effect of opsin on the shape of the potential energy surfaces at the conical intersection of the Rhodopsin chromophore

2008

Abstract In order to disentangle the role of the protein in the control of the photoisomerization of the chromophore of the visual pigment Rhodopsin, we compare the structure of the ground and excited potential energy surfaces of gas-phase and opsin-embedded 11- cis retinal chromophore at the corresponding (lowest energy) conical intersections. It is shown that, along the branching plane, the asymmetric opsin environment destabilizes one of the ground state relaxation channels emerging from the conical intersection. This suggests that opsin promotes the formation of the product (bathorhodopsin) via enhanced decay probability along the all- trans exit channel. In contrast, in the gas-phase n…