Excited state, formation potential energy

The choice of new complexes was guided by some simple considerations. The overall eel efficiency of any compound is the product of the photoluminescence quantum yield and the efficiency of excited state formation. This latter parameter is difficult to evaluate. It may be very small depending on many factors. An irreversible decomposition of the primary redox pair can compete with back electron transfer. This back electron transfer could favor the formation of ground state products even if excited state formation is energy sufficient (13,14,38,39). Taking into account these possibilities we selected complexes which show an intense photoluminescence (0 > 0.01) in order to increase the probability for detection of eel. In addition, the choice of suitable complexes was also based on the expectation that reduction and oxidation would occur in an appropriate potential range. 

Rauhut and coworkers proposed the occurrence of a charge transfer complex between the HEI and the ACT in order to explain the electronically excited-state generation in the peroxyoxalate system. Chemiluminescence quantum yield (4>cl) measurements with different activators have shown that the lower the ACT half-wave oxidation potential (Ei/2° ) or singlet energy (Es), the higher the electronically excited-state formation rate and 4>cl- According to the mechanistic proposal of Schuster and coworkers for the CIEEL... 

Both of these reactions are chemiluminescent and the potential energy surfaces which result in either ground state or excited state formation are shown. 

Subsequent to the formation of a potentially chemiluminescent molecule in its lowest excited state, a series of events carries the molecule down to its ground electronic state. Thermal deactivation of the excited molecule causes the molecule to lose vibrational energy by inelastic collisions with the solvent this is known as thermal or vibrational relaxation. Certain molecules may return radia-tionlessly all the way to the ground electronic state in a process called internal conversion. Some molecules cannot return to the ground electronic state by internal conversion or vibrational relaxation. These molecules return to the ground excited state either by the direct emission of ultraviolet or visible radiation (fluorescence), or by intersystem crossing from the lowest excited singlet to the lowest triplet state. 

The inherent problems associated with the computation of the properties of solids have been reduced by a computational technique called Density Functional Theory. This approach to the calculation of the properties of solids again stems from solid-state physics. In Hartree-Fock equations the N electrons need to be specified by 3/V variables, indicating the position of each electron in space. The density functional theory replaces these with just the electron density at a point, specified by just three variables. In the commonest formalism of the theory, due to Kohn and Sham, called the local density approximation (LDA), noninteracting electrons move in an effective potential that is described in terms of a uniform electron gas. Density functional theory is now widely used for many chemical calculations, including the stabilities and bulk properties of solids, as well as defect formation energies and configurations in materials such as silicon, GaN, and Agl. At present, the excited states of solids are not well treated in this way. 

The formation of such excimers, which only exist in the excited state, is commonplace among polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, the simple potential energy diagram for which is shown in Figure 6.4. 

In contrast to the case of ZnCh-Ceo, no transient formation of Ceo" was detected at 1000 nm for any other dyad in Scheme 4b [65]. In each case, only the triplet-triplet absorption due to the chlorin or porphyrin moiety was observed due to the higher energy of the radical ion pair as compared to the triplet excited state as is expected from the redox potentials. Thus, the energy level of the radical ion pair in reference to the triplet energy of a component is an important factor in determining the lifetime of the radical ion pair. 

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