7 Search Results

In search for a qualitative understanding of the effects of molecular packing on singlet fission (SF) rate, a simplified version of the frontier orbital model is described and illustrated on a pair of tetracene molecules. To identify all favorable physically accessible pair geometries, all significant local maxima of the square of the electronic matrix element for SF have been located within the six-dimensional space of possible arrangements of two rigid bodies, using a grid of over 4.7 × 10⁸ pair geometries. Those at which the molecules interpenetrate were excluded using a hard-sphere model. The effects of intermolecular interaction on themore » SF energy balance and thus its rate constant k_SF were approximated using Marcus theory at each of the maxima using the same simplified version of the frontier orbital model. Starting at these local maxima, the pair geometries were optimized for maximum k_SF and the 21 best are reported along with their computed Davydov splitting and triplet biexciton binding energies. The optimal pair structures at the resulting maxima follow qualitative rules published previously and further elaborated here.« less

Diaminoquinones with a captodatively stabilized biradicaloid structure are options for singlet fission, but few such compounds are known. We report the solution spectroscopy and photophysics of 1,2,2,3-tetramethyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-naphtho[2,3-d]imidazole-4,9-dione (1): its steady-state and transient UV-visible absorption, linear dichroism in stretched poly(vinyl alcohol), and magnetic circular dichroism. We also describe the absorption spectra of the stable radical ions 1+ and 1- and of two parent structures, 2,3-diamino-1,4-naphthoquinone (2) and 2,3-bis(methylamino)-1,4-naphthoquinone (3). The spectra are interpreted and electronic transitions are assigned by comparison with the results of density functional theory and MS-CASPT2 calculations.

Here, a procedure is described for unbiased identification of all π-electron chromophore pair geometry choices that locally maximize the rate of conversion of a singlet exciton into a singlet biexciton (triplet pair), using a simplified version of the diabatic frontier orbital model of singlet fission (SF).

Crystal structures, singlet fission (SF) rate constants, and other photophysical properties are reported for three fluorinated derivatives of 1,3-diphenylisobenzofuran and compared with those of the two crystal forms of the parent. The results place constraints on the notion that the effects of molecular packing on SF rates could be studied separately from effects of chromophore structural changes by examining groups of chromophores related by weakly perturbing substitution if their crystal structures are different. The results further provide experimental evidence that dimer-based models of SF are not sufficiently general and that trimer- and possibly even higher oligomer-based models need to bemore » formulated.« less

The previously reported (Duman et al., J. Org. Chem. 2012, 77, 4516) calculated state energies of monomeric difluoroborondipyrromethene (BODIPY) and its axial dimer would suggest that these dyes are promising candidates for singlet fission, and the dimer was computed to have an unusual low-lying doubly excited state. We find that these results were affected by the use of an imbalanced active space in multireference calculations and are not correct. Multistate complete-active-space second-order perturbation theory (MS-CASPT2/cc-pVDZ) calculations using an [8,8] (8 electrons in 8 orbitals) active space for the monomer and a [16,16] active space for the dimer reproduce quite wellmore » the observed excitation energies of the S₁ states of both, and yield T₁ excitation energies well in excess of half of the S₁ excitation energies. We conclude that neither BODIPY monomer nor its axial dimer would permit exothermic singlet fission and are not worthy of investigation as potentially useful candidates, and that the unusual low-energy doubly excited states of the dimer were artifacts.« less

After a brief review of electronic aspects of singlet fission, we describe a systematic simplification of the frontier orbital (HOMO/LUMO) model of singlet fission and Davydov splitting in a pair of rigid molecules. In both instances, the model includes electron configurations representing local singlet excitation on either chromophore, charge transfer in either direction, and triplet excitation in both chromophores (biexciton). The resulting equations are simple enough to permit complete searches for local extrema of the square of the electronic matrix element and to evaluate the effect of intermolecular interactions on the exoergicity of singlet fission and on the biexciton bindingmore » energy in the six-dimensional space of rigid dimer geometries. The procedure is illustrated on results for the six best geometries for dimers of ethylene and of an indigoid heterocycle with 24 carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen atoms.« less