Conical intersection photoisomerization

The first study in which a full CASSCE treatment was used for the non-adiabatic dynamics of a polyatomic system was a study on a model of the retinal chromophore [86]. The cis-trans photoisomerization of retinal is the primary event in vision, but despite much study the mechanism for this process is still unclear. The minimal model for retinal is l-cis-CjH NHj, which had been studied in an earlier quantum chemisti7 study [230]. There, it had been established that a conical intersection exists between the Si and So states with the cis-trans defining torsion angle at approximately a = 80° (cis is at 0°). Two... 

THE cvcLOBUTADENE-TETRAHEDRANE SYSTEM. A related reaction is the photoisomerization of cyclobutadiene (CBD). It was found that unsubstituted CBD does not react in an argon matrix upon irradiation, while the tri-butyl substituted derivative forms the corresponding tetrahedrane [86,87]. These results may be understood on the basis of a conical intersection enclosed by the loop shown in Figure 37. The analogy with the butadiene loop (Fig. 13) is obvious. The two CBDs and the biradical shown in the figure are the three anchors in this system. With small substituents, the two lobes containing the lone electrons can be far... 

Figure 55. Two-dimensional coupled potential energy surfaces and the wavepacket motion, (a) Si — S2 surfaces and (b) Si — So surfaces. The black, gray, and white circles and dotted lines indicate the locations of the FC region. Si - S2 conical intersection minimum, 5MR Si — So conical intersection minimum, and seam lines, respectively. The solid arrows indicate the schematic wavepacket pathway in the case of natural photoisomerization starting from the vibrational ground state. Taken from Ref. [49].

Figure 9. Schematic reprsentation of a classical trajectory moving on the Si and So energy surfaces of the H2—(CH) -NHt trans cis photoisomerization, starting near the planar Franck-Condon geometry. The geometric coordinates are (a) torsion of the C2—C3 and C3 C4 bonds and (b) asymmetric stretching coupled with pyramidalization. Both Si and So intersect at a conical intersection (Si/S0 Cl) located near the minimum of the Si surface (Min-C ) where the C2C3C4N5 torsion angle is 104°. [Reproduced with permission from [87], Copyright 2000 Amercian Chemical Society],...

Intriguingly, the conical intersection model also suggests that E,Z-isomerization of acyclic dienes might be accompanied by conformational interconversion about the central bond, reminiscent of the so-called Hula-Twist mechanism for the efficient ,Z-photo-isomerization of the visual pigment rhodopsin in its rigid, natural protein environment101. A study of the photochemistry of deuterium-labelled 2,3-dimethyl-l,3-butadiene (23-d2) in low temperature matrices (vide infra) found no evidence for such a mechanism in aliphatic diene E,Z -photoisomerizations102. On the other hand, Fuss and coworkers have recently reported results consistent with the operation of this mechanism in the E,Z-photoisomerization of previtamin D3 (vide infra)103. 

Rather than summarize the discussions of the two conical intersection problems of radical anion dissociation and protonated Schiff base photoisomerization in a nonequilibrium... 

PolU D, Altoe P, Weingart O, SpUlane KM, Manzoni C, Brida D, Tomasello G, Orlandi G, Kukura P, Mathies RA, GaraveUi M, Cerullo G (2010) Conical intersection dynamics of the primary photoisomerization event in vision. Nature 467 440-443... 

H. Photoisomerization Through a Conical Intersection in the Na3p2 Cluster... 

Therefore, the photoisomerization in the NasFa cluster through a conical intersection will be addressed first and then in Section 111 the new strategy for optimal control will be applied in order to suppress the passage through the conical intersection and to selectively populate one of the chosen isomers. 

Ruiz, D. S., Cembran, A., Garavelli, M., Olivucci, M., Fuss, W., Structure of the Conical Intersections Driving the cis trans Photoisomerization of Conjugated Molecules, Photochem. Photobiol. 2002, 76, 622 633. 

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