Studies of the inertial component of polar solvation dynamics

Abstract

We describe results of computer simulations and sub‐picosecond time‐resolved fluorescence experiments on the solvation dynamics of 1‐aminonapthalene and coumarin 153 in acetonitrile and methanol. Both the simulations and experiments point to the importance of fast, inertial components in the solvation response in these systems. Where direct comparisons between the experiment and simulation are possible, the agreement is found to be quite good. We also consider application of a simple theory for the solvation response in order to make some predictions about the likely importance of the inertial component in a variety of common solvents.