Singlet state solvent effects

Gustavsson T, Sarkar N, Lazzarotto E, Markovitsi D, Barone V, Improta R (2006) Solvent effect on the singlet excited-state dynamics of 5-fluorouracil in acetonitrile as compared with water. J Phys ChemB 110 12843-12847... 

J.R. Bolton In solution most photochemical electron transfer reactions occur from the triplet state because in the collision complex there is a spin inhibition for back electron transfer to the ground state of the dye. Electron transfer from the singlet excited state probably occurs in such systems but the back electron transfer is too effective to allow separation of the electron transfer products from the solvent cage. In our linked compound, the quinone cannot get as close to the porphyrin as in a collision complex, yet it is still close enough for electron transfer to occur from the excited singlet state of the porphyrin Now the back electron transfer is inhibited by the distance and molecular structure between the two ends. Our future work will focus on how to design the linking structure to obtain the most favourable operation as a molecular "photodiode . 

If the reaction rates of a specific carbene with various quenchers are studied in the same solvent, and with small concentrations of Q, K will be constant. Relative reactivities for the singlet state of a spin-equilibrated carbene can thus be derived. However, few researchers have varied the acidity of ROH, estimated kinetic isotope effects, and compared alcohols with ethers (Table 4). The data indicate proton transfer to diarylcarbenes (139d, 139k, 205, 206)112-117 and diadamantylcarbene (207).118... 

The phosphorescence of a 5 X lO" M solution of biacetyl in de-aerated 2-propanol at room temperature could be quenched completely by 1 a,d,e (10 8 M) 84). In all three cases, the corresponding photoreduction products 2a,d,e emerge from analogous preparative scale biacetyl sensitized runs. Since 2e is also formed, steric hindrance to hydrogen abstraction from solvent cannot be too effective when a (probably longer-lived) triplet is populated, whereas it might be effective in the direct photolysis ot 1 e 88) where isomerisation competes with reduction probably in the (short-lived) singlet state. 

Solvent Effects. As noted earlier, Netzel et al. (M- ) observed striking effects on the photodynamics of electronically excited MgP-P dimers depending on the solvent used. For example, in their earlier work (20) they showed that the photodynamics in CH2CI2 were consistent with the formation of a long-lived singlet CT state which decayed by two pathways, while in THF only a single short-lived (tt, tt ) state was observed. 

The observed solvent effect on the stereoselectivity of singlet oxygen with ester 79 was rationalized by examination of the possible transition states of this reaction (Scheme 22). 

Energetic considerations based on the separation of solvated ions at the encounter distance a show that solvated ion-pair formation from 1M is sufficiently exothermic in polar solvents to effectively prevent the production of excited singlet states 1M by the reverse process. Table XVIII lists values for free energies AGIM of ion-pair formation in acetonitrile estimated24 from the oxidation and reduction potentials, D/D+ and EA-tA, of donor and acceptor using the relationship... 

Cyclohexadienones. The perturbation of the electronic absorption spectra by adsorption on silica gel can have a significant effect on subsequent photochemical reactions. For example, Hart has shown that 2,4-cyclo-hexadienones photochemically degrade cleanly in nonpolar solvents to a ketene (1) but in highly polar solvents or adsorbed on silica gel bicyclic ketone (2) is the predominant product.33 The absorption spectra indicate that in nonpolar solvents the lowest singlet state is the n,n state, from which the formation of the ketene proceeds. This n -n band is obscured by the band in polar media, inversion of the energy levels of the n,n, and the first... 

Transient absorption experiments have shown that all of the major DNA and RNA nucleosides have fluorescence lifetimes of less than one picosecond [2—4], and that covalently modified bases [5], and even individual tautomers [6], differ dramatically in their excited-state dynamics. Femtosecond fluorescence up-conversion studies have also shown that the lowest singlet excited states of monomeric bases, nucleosides, and nucleotides decay by ultrafast internal conversion [7-9]. As discussed elsewhere [2], solvent effects on the fluorescence lifetimes are quite modest, and no evidence has been found to date to support excited-state proton transfer as a decay mechanism. These observations have focused attention on the possibility of internal conversion via one or more conical intersections. Recently, computational studies have succeeded in locating conical intersections on the excited state potential energy surfaces of several isolated nucleobases [10-12]. 

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