Lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals LUMOs , electron promotion

Figure 14.12 Ultraviolet excitation of 1,3-butadiene results in the promotion of an electron from i / , the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO), to 1//3, the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO).

This type of probe, often called fluorescent photoinduced electron transfer (PET) sensors, has been extensively studied (for reviews, see Refs. 22 and 23). Figure 2.2 illustrates how a cation can control the photoinduced charge transfer in a fluoroiono-phore in which the cation receptor is an electron donor (e.g., amino group) and the fluorophore (e.g., anthracene) plays the role of an acceptor. On excitation of the fluorophore, an electron of the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) is promoted to the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO), which enables photoinduced electron transfer from the HOMO of the donor (belonging to the free cation receptor) to that of the fluorophore, causing fluorescence quenching of the latter. On... 

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