Journal of Physical Chemistry A, Vol.118, No.26, 4732-4739, 2014
Photoinduced Proton Transfer and Isomerization in a Hydrogen-Bonded Aromatic Azo Compound: A CASPT2//CASSCF Study
Intramolecularly hydrogen-bonded aromatic azo compound 1-cyclopropyldiazo-2-naphthol (CPDNO) exhibits complicated excited-state behaviors, e.g., wavelength-dependent photoinduced proton transfer and photoproducts. Its photochemistry differs from that of common aromatic azo compounds in which cis-trans photoisomerization is dominant. To rationalize the intriguing photochemistry of CPDNO at the atomic level, we have in this work employed the complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) and its second-order perturbation (CASPT2) methods to explore the S-0, S-1, and S-2 potential-energy profiles relevant to enol-keto proton transfer and isomerization reactions. It is found that the proton transfer along the bright diabatic (1)pi pi* potential-energy profile is almost barrierless, quickly forming the fluorescent (1)pi pi* keto minimum. In this process, the dark (1)n pi* state is populated via a (1)pi pi*/(1)n pi* crossing point, but the proton transfer on this dark state is suppressed heavily as a result of a large barrier. In addition, two deactivation paths that decay the S-1 enol and keto minima to the S-0 state, respectively, were uncovered. For the former, it is exoenergetic and thereby thermodynamically favorable; for the latter, it is a little endothermic (ca. 5 kcal/mol). Both are energetically allowable concerning the available total energy. Finally, on the basis of the present results, the experimentally observed wavelength-dependent photoproducts were explained very well.