Detailed theoretical investigation of excited-state intramolecular proton transfer mechanism of a new chromophore II

• The intramolecular hydrogen bond is strengthened in the first excited-state.
• The hydrogen bond facilitates the proton transfer from hydroxyl group to the neighbor N atom.
• The spontaneous excited-state intramolecular proton transfer reaction can be observed.

In the present work, TDDFT has been used to investigate the excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) mechanism of a new chromophore II [Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical. 202 (2014) 1190]. The calculated absorption and fluorescence spectra agree well with experimental results. In addition, two types of II configurations are found in the first excited state (S1), which can be ascribed to the ESIPT reaction. Based on analysis of the calculated infrared (IR) spectra of O–H stretching vibration as well as the hydrogen bonding energies, the strengthening of the hydrogen bond in the S1 state has been confirmed. The frontier molecular orbitals (MOs), Hirshfeld charge distribution and the Natural bond orbital (NBO) have also been analyzed, which displays the tendency of the ESIPT process. Finally, potential energy curves of the S0 and S1 states were constructed, demonstrating that the ESIPT reaction can be facilitated based on the photo-excitation.

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