Author(s) |
Singh, P. K.; Nath, S.; Bhasikuttan, A. C.; Kumbhakar, M.; Mohanty, J.; Sarkar, S. K.; Mukherjee, T.; Pal, H.
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Effect of donor amine orientation on nondiffusive ultrafast intermolecular electron transfer
(ET) reactions in coumarin-amine systems has been investigated using femtosecond fluorescence
upconversion measurements. Intermolecular ET from different aromatic and aliphatic amines used
as donor solvents to the excited coumarin-151 (C151) acceptor occurs with ultrafast rates such that
the shortest fluorescence lifetime component (t1) is the measure of the fastest ET rate
(t1=tETfast
=(kETfast)−1), assigned to the C151-amine contact pairs in which amine donors are properly oriented
with respect to C151 to maximize the acceptor-donor electronic coupling
(Vel). It is interestingly observed that as the amine solvents are diluted by suitable diluents
(either keeping solvent dielectric constant similar or with increasing dielectric
constant), the t1 remains almost in the similar range as
long as the amine dilution does not cross a certain critical limit, which in terms of the amine mole
fraction (xA) is found to be ~0.4 for aromatic amines and
~0.8 for aliphatic amines. Beyond these dilutions in the two respective cases of the amine systems, the
t1 values are seen to increase very
sharply. The large difference in the critical xA values involving aromatic and aliphatic amine donors
has been rationalized in terms of the largely different orientational restrictions for the ET reactions
as imposed by the aliphatic (n-type) and aromatic (p-type) nature of the amine donors
[A. K. Satpati et al., J. Mol. Struct. 878, 84 (2008)]. Since the highest occupied molecular orbital
(HOMO) of the n-type aliphatic amines is mostly centralized at the amino nitrogen, only some specific orientations
of these amines with respect to the close-contact acceptor dye
[also of p-character; A. K. Satpati
et al., J. Mol. Struct. 878, 84 (2008) and E. W. Castner et
al., J. Phys. Chem. A 104, 2869 (2000)] can give suitable Vel and thus ultrafast ET reaction. In contrary, the HOMO of the
p-type aromatic
amines is largely distributed throughout the whole molecule and thus most of the orientations of
these amines can give significant Vel for ultrafast ET reactions with close-contact C151 dyes.
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