Charge transfer reactions in nematic liquid crystals
- Argonne National Lab., IL (United States). Chemistry Div.
- Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem (Israel). Dept. of Physical Chemistry
Ultrafast transient absorption studies of intramolecular photoinduced charge separation and thermal charge recombination were carried out on a molecule consisting of a 4-(N-pyrrolidino)naphthalene-1,8-imide donor (PNI) covalently attached to a pyromellitimide acceptor (PI) dissolved in the liquid crystal 4{prime}-(n-pentyl)-4-cyanobiphenyl (5CB). The temperature dependencies of the charge separation and recombination rates were obtained at temperatures above the nematic-isotropic phase transition of 5CB, where ordered microdomains exist and scattering of visible light by these domains is absent. The authors show that excited state charge separation is dominated by molecular reorientation of 5CB perpendicular to the director within the liquid crystal microdomains. They also show that charge recombination is adiabatic and is controlled by the comparatively slow collective reorientation of the liquid crystal microdomains relative to the orientation of PNI{sup +}-PI{sup {minus}}. They also report the results of time resolved electron paramagnetic resonance (TREPR) studies of photoinduced charge separation in a series of supramolecular compounds dissolved in oriented liquid crystal solvents. These studies permit the determination of the radical pair energy levels as the solvent reorganization energy increases from the low temperature crystalline phase, through the soft glass phase, to the nematic phase of the liquid crystal.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab., Chemistry Div., IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Research, Washington, DC (United States); United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation, Jerusalem (Israel); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Bonn (Germany)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-31109-ENG-38
- OSTI ID:
- 656567
- Report Number(s):
- ANL/CHM/CP-96855; CONF-980731-; ON: DE98057786; TRN: AHC29817%%123
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 43. international symposium on optical science, engineering, and instrumentation, San Diego, CA (United States), 19-24 Jul 1998; Other Information: PBD: [1998]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Determination of the energy levels of radical pair states in photosynthetic models oriented in liquid crystals with time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance.
Dynamics of Deformation of a Nematic under Strong Crossed Electric and Magnetic Fields