Intersystem crossing reaction

Once the excited molecule reaches the S state it can decay by emitting fluorescence or it can undergo a fiirtlier radiationless transition to a triplet state. A radiationless transition between states of different multiplicity is called intersystem crossing. This is a spin-forbidden process. It is not as fast as internal conversion and often has a rate comparable to the radiative rate, so some S molecules fluoresce and otliers produce triplet states. There may also be fiirther internal conversion from to the ground state, though it is not easy to detemiine the extent to which that occurs. Photochemical reactions or energy transfer may also occur from S. ... 

By examining the expression for Q ( equation (B1.16.4)). it should now be clear that the nuclear spin state influences the difference in precessional frequencies and, ultimately, the likelihood of intersystem crossing, tlnough the hyperfme tenn. It is this influence of nuclear spin states on electronic intersystem crossing which will eventually lead to non-equilibrium distributions of nuclear spin states, i.e. spin polarization, in the products of radical reactions, as we shall see below. 

These reactions usually occur via the triplet excited state T,. The intersystem crossing of the initially formed singlet excited state is so fast (fc 10 s ) that reactions of the S state are usually not observed. The reaction of benzophenone has been particularly closeh studied. Some of the facts that have been established in support of the general mechanisir. outlined above are as follows ... 

The results described above represent the first example of the FR mechanism (Scheme 1). Semiempirical calculations on this molecule showed that the intersystem crossing to the excited triplet state is favored The reaction cannot be sensitized by xanthone because the triplet state of 3,4-diphenyl-1,2,5-oxadiazole is lower than that of xanthone. The cleavage of the triplet state to the biradical is favored, considering the relative energy of this intermediate (Fig. 23) (OOOUPl). 

The primary step is the absorption of a quantum, which results in an excitation of the Ti-orbital. This singlet orbital can undergo intersystem crossing with spin change to a triplet stage ((t, (t), which has been found in brominated arenes (ref. 29). The photolytic reaction in methanol is much slower compared to hexane (ref. 27). This is shown for 1,2,3,4-TBDD, for which the decay constants ha/e been determined in both solvents ... 

The interconversion between different spin states is closely related to the intersystem crossing process in excited states of transition-metal complexes. Hence, much of the interest in the rates of spin-state transitions arises from their relevance to a better understanding of intersystem crossing phenomena. The spin-state change can alternatively be described as an intramolecular electron transfer reaction [34], Therefore, rates of spin-state transitions may be employed to assess the effect of spin multiplicity changes on electron transfer rates. These aspects have been covered in some detail elsewhere [30]. 

Interestingly, it was possible to probe the spin-forbidden component of the tunneling reaction with internal and external heavy atom effects. Such effects are well known to enhance the rates of intersystem crossing of electronically excited triplets to ground singlet states, where the presence of heavier nuclei increases spin-orbit coupling. Relative rates for the low-temperature rearrangements of 12 to 13 were... 

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