摘要
Excited-state double proton transfer(ESDPT)is a controversial issue which has long been plagued with theoretical and experimental communities.Herein,we took 1,8-dihydroxy-2-naphthaldehyde(DHNA)as a prototype and used combined complete active space selfconsistent field(CASSCF)and multi-state complete active-space second-order perturbation(MS-CASPT2)methods to investigate ESDPT and excited-state deactivation pathways of DHNA.Three different tautomer minima of S1-ENOL,S1-KETO-1,and S1-KETO-2 and two crucial conical intersections of S1 S0-KETO-1 and S1 S0-KETO-2 in and between the S0 and S1 states were obtained.S1-KETO-1 and S1-KETO-2 should take responsibility for experimentally observing dual-emission bands.In addition,two-dimensional potential energy surfaces(2 D-PESs)and linear interpolated internal coordinate paths connecting relevant structures were calculated at the MS-CASPT2//CASSCF level and confirmed a stepwise ESDPT mechanism.Specifically,the first proton transfer from S1-ENOL to S1-KETO-1 is barrierless,whereas the second one from S1-KETO-1 to S1-KETO-2 demands a barrier of ca.6.0 kcal/mol.The linear interpolated internal coordinate path connecting S1-KETO-1(S1-KETO-2)and S_(1) S0-KETO-1(S1 S0-KETO-2)is uphill with a barrier of ca.12.0 kcal/mol,which will trap DHNA in the S_(1) state while therefore enabling dual-emission bands.On the other hand,the S1/S0 conical intersections would also prompt the S_(1) system to decay to the S_(0) state,which could be to certain extent suppressed by locking the rotation of the C5-C8-C9-O10 dihedral angle.These mechanistic insights are not only helpful for understanding ESDPT but also useful for designing novel molecular materials with excellent photoluminescent performances.
基金
supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China for BinBin Xie(No.2019YFA0709400)
the National Natural Science Foundation of China for Bin-Bin Xie(No.21903068)
Xiang-Yang Liu(No.22003043)
Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province for Bin-Bin Xie(No.LQ19B030007)。
