Nonadiabatic radiationless decay

Understanding the mechanism of this nonadiabatic radiationless decay is central to explaining excited state processes. There are two possible mechanisms (see nonadiabatic reactions in Figure 1). When real surface crossings exist (conical intersection, see left side of Figure 1) and are accessible, the Landau-... 

A question that becomes obvious at this point is what happens to the molecules that have similar structures to the natural bases but have different photophysical properties, i.e. they fluoresce. These molecules have similar main structure to the bases, similar ring systems and double bonds, and so, according to the previous discussion, similar conical intersections should be expected. If that is true, and conical intersections facilitate efficient radiationless decay, why do these molecules fluoresce instead of decaying nonadiabatically That is a question that has occupied a number of scientists and some answers and insights are given in the following section. 

ULTRAFAST RADIATIONLESS DECAY IN NUCLEIC ACIDS INSIGHTS FROM NONADIABATIC AB INITIO MOLECULAR DYNAMICS... 

In the present chapter, we will focus on the simulation of the dynamics of photoexcited nucleobases, in particular on the investigation of radiationless decay dynamics and the determination of associated characteristic time constants. We use a nonadiabatic extension of ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) [15, 18, 21, 22] which is formulated entirely within the framework of density functional theory. This approach couples the restricted open-shell Kohn-Sham (ROKS) [26-28] first singlet excited state, Su to the Kohn-Sham ground state, S0, by means of the surface hopping method [15, 18, 94-97], The current implementation employs a plane-wave basis set in combination with periodic boundary conditions and is therefore ideally suited to condensed phase applications. Hence, in addition to gas phase reference simulations, we will also present nonadiabatic AIMD (na-AIMD) simulations of nucleobases and base pairs in aqueous solution. 

Langer and Doltsinis [41, 42] find that the nonadiabatic transition parameter (10-10) is correlated to variations in the C(5)C(6) bond length as well as to out-of-plane motions. The importance of this degree of freedom for radiationless decay has been pointed out previously by Zgierski et al. [103],... 

H-keto G in liquid water A ground state simulation of 9H-keto G embedded in 60 H20 molecules in a periodic setup at 300 K has been performed from which six configurations have been randomly selected as input for 6 nonadiabatic surface hopping trajectory calculations starting in the S1 excited state. Comparison with the simulations in the gas phase (see Section 10.3.3.2.1) permits analysis of the effects of the water solvent on the mechanism of radiationless decay. 

The excited state lifetimes determined from the na-AIMD simulations are generally in good agreement with experimental data. In addition, the na-AIMD simulations provide detailed insights into the dynamical mechanism of radiationless decay. The time evolution of the nonadiabatic transition probability could be correlated with certain vibrational motions. In this way, the simulations yield the driving modes of internal conversion. 

Modern experimental measurements and the new computational techniques just discussed are now providing results that can rationalize issues such as the efficiency of 1C at a surface crossing, the competition with fluorescence when an excited state barrier is present, and the relationship between the molecular structure at the intersection and the structure of the photoproducts. Experiments on isolated molecules in cold-matrices or expanding-jets have revealed the presence of thermally activated fast radiationless decay channels. For example, Christensen et al. have proposed that (under isolated conditions in a cool-jet) trans — cis motion in all-tra 5-octa-1.3,5,7-tetraene (all-trow -OT) induces the opening of an efficient nonadiabatic radiationless deactivation channel on Si (2Ag). We now discuss this experiment and complementary theoretical results that illustrate the way in which theory and experiment can be used in concert. 

The Born-Oppenheimer adiabatic approximation represents one of the cornerstones of molecular physics and chemistry. The concept of adiabatic potential-energy surfaces, defined by the Born-Oppenheimer approximation, is fundamental to our thinking about molecular spectroscopy and chemical reaction djmamics. Many chemical processes can be rationalized in terms of the dynamics of the atomic nuclei on a single Born Oppenheimer potential-energy smface. Nonadiabatic processes, that is, chemical processes which involve nuclear djmamics on at least two coupled potential-energy surfaces and thus cannot be rationalized within the Born-Oppenheimer approximation, are nevertheless ubiquitous in chemistry, most notably in photochemistry and photobiology. Typical phenomena associated with a violation of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation are the radiationless relaxation of excited electronic states, photoinduced uni-molecular decay and isomerization processes of polyatomic molecules. 

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