skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Electronic excitations in a dielectric continuum solvent with quantum Monte Carlo: Acrolein in water

Abstract

We investigate here the vertical n → π{sup *} and π → π{sup *} transitions of s-trans-acrolein in aqueous solution by means of a polarizable continuum model (PCM) we have developed for the treatment of the solute at the quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) level of the theory. We employ the QMC approach which allows us to work with highly correlated electronic wave functions for both the solute ground and excited states and, to study the vertical transitions in the solvent, adopt the commonly used scheme of considering fast and slow dielectric polarization. To perform calculations in a non-equilibrium solvation regime for the solute excited state, we add a correction to the global dielectric polarization charge density, obtained self consistently with the solute ground-state wave function by assuming a linear-response scheme. For the solvent polarization in the field of the solute in the ground state, we use the static dielectric constant while, for the electronic dielectric polarization, we employ the solvent refractive index evaluated at the same frequency of the photon absorbed by the solute for the transition. This choice is shown to be better than adopting the most commonly used value of refractive index measured in the region of visiblemore » radiation. Our QMC calculations show that, for standard cavities, the solvatochromic shifts obtained with the PCM are underestimated, even though of the correct sign, for both transitions of acrolein in water. Only by reducing the size of the cavity to values where more than one electron is escaped to the solvent region, we regain the experimental shift for the n → π{sup *} case and also improve considerably the shift for the π → π{sup *} transition.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2]
  1. Dipartimento di Chimica e Chimica Industriale, Università di Pisa, Via Risorgimento 35, 56126 Pisa (Italy)
  2. MESA Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede (Netherlands)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22255255
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Journal of Chemical Physics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 140; Journal Issue: 3; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 0021-9606
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; ACROLEIN; AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS; CHARGE DENSITY; DIELECTRIC MATERIALS; EXCITED STATES; GROUND STATES; MONTE CARLO METHOD; PERMITTIVITY; POLARIZATION; REFRACTIVE INDEX; SOLUTES; SOLVATION; SOLVENTS; WATER; WAVE FUNCTIONS

Citation Formats

Floris, Franca Maria, E-mail: floris@dcci.unipi.it, Amovilli, Claudio, and Filippi, Claudia. Electronic excitations in a dielectric continuum solvent with quantum Monte Carlo: Acrolein in water. United States: N. p., 2014. Web. doi:10.1063/1.4861429.
Floris, Franca Maria, E-mail: floris@dcci.unipi.it, Amovilli, Claudio, & Filippi, Claudia. Electronic excitations in a dielectric continuum solvent with quantum Monte Carlo: Acrolein in water. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4861429
Floris, Franca Maria, E-mail: floris@dcci.unipi.it, Amovilli, Claudio, and Filippi, Claudia. 2014. "Electronic excitations in a dielectric continuum solvent with quantum Monte Carlo: Acrolein in water". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4861429.
@article{osti_22255255,
title = {Electronic excitations in a dielectric continuum solvent with quantum Monte Carlo: Acrolein in water},
author = {Floris, Franca Maria, E-mail: floris@dcci.unipi.it and Amovilli, Claudio and Filippi, Claudia},
abstractNote = {We investigate here the vertical n → π{sup *} and π → π{sup *} transitions of s-trans-acrolein in aqueous solution by means of a polarizable continuum model (PCM) we have developed for the treatment of the solute at the quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) level of the theory. We employ the QMC approach which allows us to work with highly correlated electronic wave functions for both the solute ground and excited states and, to study the vertical transitions in the solvent, adopt the commonly used scheme of considering fast and slow dielectric polarization. To perform calculations in a non-equilibrium solvation regime for the solute excited state, we add a correction to the global dielectric polarization charge density, obtained self consistently with the solute ground-state wave function by assuming a linear-response scheme. For the solvent polarization in the field of the solute in the ground state, we use the static dielectric constant while, for the electronic dielectric polarization, we employ the solvent refractive index evaluated at the same frequency of the photon absorbed by the solute for the transition. This choice is shown to be better than adopting the most commonly used value of refractive index measured in the region of visible radiation. Our QMC calculations show that, for standard cavities, the solvatochromic shifts obtained with the PCM are underestimated, even though of the correct sign, for both transitions of acrolein in water. Only by reducing the size of the cavity to values where more than one electron is escaped to the solvent region, we regain the experimental shift for the n → π{sup *} case and also improve considerably the shift for the π → π{sup *} transition.},
doi = {10.1063/1.4861429},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22255255}, journal = {Journal of Chemical Physics},
issn = {0021-9606},
number = 3,
volume = 140,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Jan 21 00:00:00 EST 2014},
month = {Tue Jan 21 00:00:00 EST 2014}
}