First-principles calculations of anharmonic and deuteration effects on the photophysical properties of polyacenes and porphyrinoids

Abstract

A new method for calculating internal conversion rate constants (k[combining low line]IC), including anharmonic effects and using the Lagrangian multiplier technique, is proposed. The deuteration effect on k[combining low line]IC is investigated for naphthalene, anthracene, free-base porphyrin (H2P) and tetraphenylporphyrin (H2TPP). The results show that anharmonic effects are important when calculating k[combining low line]IC for transitions between electronic states that are energetically separated (ΔE) by more than 20 000-25 000 cm-1. Anharmonic effects are also important when ΔE < 20 000-25 000 cm-1 and when the accepting modes are X-H stretching vibrations with a frequency larger than 2000 cm-1. The calculations show that there is mixing between the S1 and S2 states of naphthalene induced by non-adiabatic interactions. The non-adiabatic interaction matrix element between the S1 and S2 states is 250 cm-1 and 50 cm-1 for the normal and fully deuterated naphthalene structure and this difference significantly affects the estimated fluorescence quantum yield. Besides aromatic hydrocarbons H2P and H2TPP, the k[combining low line]IC rate constant is also calculated for pyrometene (PM567) and tetraoxa[8]circulene (4B) with a detailed analysis of the effect of the vibrational anharmonicity.