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Semiclassical molecular dynamics simulations of excited state double-proton transfer in 7-azaindole dimers

Journal Article · · Journal of Chemical Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.478866· OSTI ID:338668
; ;  [1]
  1. Department of Chemistry, University of California, and Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)

An {ital ab initio} excited state potential energy surface is constructed for describing excited state double proton transfer in the tautomerization reaction of photo-excited 7-azaindole dimers, and the ultrafast dynamics is simulated using the semiclassical (SC) initial value representation (IVR). The potential energy surface, determined in a reduced dimensionality, is obtained at the CIS level of quantum chemistry, and an approximate version of the SC-IVR approach is introduced which scales {ital linearly} with the number of degrees of freedom of the molecular system. The accuracy of this approximate SC-IVR approach is verified by comparing our semiclassical results with full quantum mechanical calculations. We find that proton transfer usually occurs during the first intermonomer symmetric-stretch vibration, about 100 fs after photoexcitation of the system, and produces an initial 15 percent population decay of the reactant base-pair, which is significantly reduced by isotopic substitution. {copyright} {ital 1999 American Institute of Physics.} thinsp

OSTI ID:
338668
Journal Information:
Journal of Chemical Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Chemical Physics Journal Issue: 20 Vol. 110; ISSN JCPSA6; ISSN 0021-9606
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English