A conceptually improved TD-DFT approach for predicting the maximum absorption wavelength of cyanine dyes

Cyanine dyes have found valuable applications in modern bioresearch because of their biocompatibility, high molar absorptivity and moderate fluorescence quantum yield. Of special value for sensing and labeling applications is the fact they can cover a very large spectral range (from blue to infra-red). To design and select the most appropriate dyes for a given application the computational prediction of the absorption wavelength (prior to the costly chemical synthesis) serves as a valuable guidance. However, predicting absorption and emission wavelengths of such compounds remains a challenging task. Herein, we report a fast and highly accurate computational approach which allows the prediction of the maximum absorption wavelength for a wide range of cyanine dyes, including symmetrical and unsymmetrical, trimethine and pentamethine cyanine dyes but also unusual imino-based analogues. In addition to the vertical excitation energy (calculated from time-dependent density functional theory), the approach makes use of a novel correction term that is based on the ground-state zero-point vibrational energy (ZPVE). The correction term is statistically significant (F-test), and it reduces the average error and maximal error of the prediction by a factor of two. We anticipate that the concept of including the ZPVE into the calculation of the maximum absorption wavelength can be used also for other families of dyes to improve their predictability.

Research highlights
► Calculations predict the precise absorption energy of maximal experimental intensity.
► A ZPVE correction is proposed as conceptual refinement of the standard approach.
► The novel correction term reduces the prediction error two-fold.
► The predictability is extended to a wider range of cyanine dyes.