Time-dependent fluorescence Stokes shift

In the case of electron transfers in solution there appears to be a greater cohesiveness of views, and the need for vibrational assistance is well established for reactions accompanied by vibrational changes (e.g., changes in bond lengths). A detailed analysis of the experiments could be made because of the existence of independent data, which include X-ray crystallography, EXAFS, resonance Raman spectra, time-dependent fluorescence Stokes shifts, among others. 

One may inquire as to what this experience with solutions suggests for the study of reactions in clusters. In the case of electron transfers supplementary information, such as time-dependent fluorescence Stokes shift in clusters, would again be helpful. Equation (2.3) can be modified to include a D(t), as in the isothermal case, if needed from the results of such data. For isomerizations, also, it would be useful to have, for solutions or clusters, detailed analogous data such as the above Stokes shift. However, because of the low intensity of such a fluorescence in this case, such data appear to be absent or scarce. 

The Practical Determination of C(0- The time-dependent fluorescence Stokes shift of the spectrum should manifest itself as (i) a rapid decay in the fluorescence intensity on the blue edge of the fluorescence spectrum, (ii) a... 

TABLE 2 Low Temperature Solvation Dynamics Determined from Time-Dependent Fluorescence Stokes Shift Measurements... 

In view of the great importance of chemical reactions in solution, it is not surprising that basic aspects (structure, energetics, and dynamics) of elementary solvation processes continue to motivate both experimental and theoretical investigations. Thus, there is growing interest in the dynamical participation of the solvent in the events following a sudden redistribution of the charges of a solute molecule. These phenomena control photoionization in both pure liquids and solutions, the solvation of electrons in polar liquids, the time-dependent fluorescence Stokes shift, and the contribution of the solvent polarization fluctuations to the rates of electron transfer in oxidation-reduction reactions in solution. 

Unie resolved ground state hole spectra of cresyl violet in acetonitrile, methanol, and ethanol at room temperature have been measured in subpicosecond to picosecond time region. The time correlation function of the solvent relaxation expressed by the hole width was obtained. The main part of the correlation function decayed much slower compared with that of the reported correlation function observed in time dependent fluorescence Stokes shift. Some possible mechanisms are proposed for understanding of the time depencences of the spectral broadening under the condition with the distribution of the relaxation times in fluid solution based on the entropy term in the solvent orientation as well as the site dependent response of the solvent. 

The plot shows a distribution closely around a slope of unity indicated by the solid line in Figure 2 except for the alcohols and nitrobenzene. Such anomaly in alcohols is also reported for other chemical processes and time-dependent fluorescence stokes shifts and is attributed to their non-Debye multiple relaxation behavior " the shorter relaxation components, which are assigned to local motions such as the OH group reorientation, contribute the friction for the barrier crossing rather than the slower main relaxation component, which corresponds to the longitudinal dielectric relaxation time, tl, when one regards the solvent as a Debye dielectric medium. If one takes account of the multiple relaxation of the alcohols, the theoretical ket (or v,i) values inaease and approach to the trend of the other solvents. (See open circles in Figure 2.)... 

A rather simple experimental teehnique involving measurement of the time-dependent fluorescence Stokes shift (TDFSS) after an initial exeitation has been applied to measure SD in a large number of liquids. TDFSS oceurs due to dipolar solvation of the excited probe and thus gives an estimate of the solvation timeseales. In an important paper, Jimenez et al. reported the results of SD of the exeited state of the dye coumarin 343 (C343) in liquid water [14]. Their result is shown in Figure 3.13. The initial part of the solvent response of water was found to be extremely fast (few tens of femtoseconds) and it constituted more than 60% of the total solvation energy relaxation. The subsequent relaxation was found to occur in the picosecond timescale. The decay of the solvation time correlation function, S t)y was fitted to a function of the following form... 

The time taken for reorganization of the solvent molecules around an instantly created dipole is termed as solvation time or solvent relaxation time (r, ) [72]. As the ILs are polar, time-resolved fluorescence studies on dipolar fluorescent molecules provide valuable information on the timescales of reorganization of the constituents of the ILs around a photoexcited molecule. The timescale of solvation depends on the viscosity, temperature, and molecular structure of the surrounding solvent [72]. As ILs are highly viscous, the solvation in ILs is a much slow process compared with that in less viscous conventional solvents. The dynamics of solvation is commonly studied by monitoring the time-dependent fluorescence Stokes shift of a dipolar molecule following its excitation by a short pulse (Scheme 7.2). This phenomenon is called dynamic fluorescence Stokes shift [73], and the solvation dynamics in several ILs has been studied by this method using various fluorescent probes. 

According to recent measurements using THz-time domain spectroscopy [139,141], the magnitude of x and x in H O are reported to be 8.5 ps and 170 fs at 292.3 K. Similar two relaxation times for water have also been observed by time-dependent fluorescence Stokes shift measurements [142-144]. The proton dissociation times of the compounds described previously are found to be comparable or slightly shorter than x, which suggests that the proton transfer takes place through rapid cooperative motions of water molecules in the vicinity of the photoacids. 

In order to understand the dynamics of the solvent fluctuation, many experimental as well as theoretical efforts have been made intensively in the last decade. One of the most convenient methods to observe solvent reorganization relaxation processes within the excited state molecule is time resolved fluorescence spectroscopy. By using time resolved techniques a time dependent fluorescence peak shift, so ( ed dynamic Stokes shift, has been detected in nanosecond picosecond >, and femtosecond time regions. Another method to observe solvent relaxation processes is time resolved absorption spectroscopy. This method is suitable for the observation of the ground state recovery of the solvent orientational distribution surrounding a solute molecule. 

Thus we see that the first moment of the spectral density multiplied by h is the reorganization energy (i.e., one half of the Stokes shift magnitude), whereas the time dependence of the first moment of p(w) corresponds to the fluorescence Stokes shift. Thus the time dependence of S t) is determined entirely by the spectral density. At high temperature [i.e., when p(w) contains frequencies less than 2kBT], S(t) becomes the classical correlation function [36] used by many previous authors [7-10], This follows from... 

A more direct way of exploring the dynamics of polar solvent in the presence of a solute is by the optical excitation of a solute to an intramolecular charge transfer state and then observing the time-dependent fluorescence, as shown in Fig. 1.7 [47, 52]. To follow the time-dependent fluorescence at short times, faster than the usual fluorescent lifetime of nanoseconds, lasers plus an up-conversion technique were used. A quantity frequently measured is the dynamic Stokes shift S(r),... 

Figure 7 Wavelength-dependent fluorescence decay profiles (a) and time-dependent dynamic fluorescence Stokes shift (b) of dipolar probe C-153 in [MorjJfTfjN] IL at xc = 405nm and /=130cP. Reproduced from Khara and Samanta [49] with permission from the American Chemical Society.

Hydrogen transfer in excited electronic states is being intensively studied with time-resolved spectroscopy. A typical scheme of electronic terms is shown in fig. 46. A vertical optical transition, induced by a picosecond laser pulse, populates the initial well of the excited Si state. The reverse optical transition, observed as the fluorescence band Fj, is accompanied by proton transfer to the second well with lower energy. This transfer is registered as the appearance of another fluorescence band, F2, with a large anti-Stokes shift. The rate constant is inferred from the time dependence of the relative intensities of these bands in dual fluorescence. The experimental data obtained by this method have been reviewed by Barbara et al. [1989]. We only quote the example of hydrogen transfer in the excited state of... 

The method is based on the ability of the excited state of suitable chromophores to both drive and respond to motions in their immediate environment. For example, coumarin excited states have a large dipole moment that causes nearby charged groups to move to stabilize the dipole. As these groups move and reduce the energy of the excited state, the fluorescence shifts toward the red. In simple solutions, this time-resolved Stokes shift (TRSS) experiment measures the time-dependent polarity of the solvent surrounding the coumarin [9]. 

Absorption maxima of the open-ring form in benzene, THF, and acetonitrile were observed in the wavelengths ranging from 335 to 340 nm. Although the maximum showed a small hypsochromic shift in hexane, the solvent shift in the absorption spectrum was rather small. On the other hand, the fluorescence spectra showed remarkable Stokes shifts depending on the solvent polarity. The maximum at 488 nm in hexane shifted to 560 nm in THF. At the same time, the intensity decreased. The fluorescence intensity in acetonitrile was <1% of the intensity in hexane. The results indicate that the excited state of the open-ring form has a polar structure with a large dipole moment. 

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