In order to study the effect of solvents polarity on the excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) processes of 3‐hydroxyflavone (3HF) in detail, the ESIPT processes of 3HF in toluene, dichloromethane (DCM), and acetonitrile (ACN) were investigated using theoretical methods. The stable configurations of 3HF in ground (S0) and excited (S1) states were optimized. The critical configuration parameters, infrared (IR) vibrational spectra, absorption and fluorescence spectra, frontier molecular orbitals (MOs), charge distribution, and potential energy curves were calculated. The intramolecular hydrogen bonds are obviously enhanced and the electronic density redistributes when excited to S1 state. The strengthening of intramolecular hydrogen bonds and the redistribution of electronic density are beneficial to the ESIPT processes. The analysis of potential energy curves show that the proton transfer processes are feasible in thermodynamics in S1 state, but not in S0 state. In addition, the intramolecular hydrogen bonds gradually weaken when the solvents polarity increases from toluene, DCM to ACN. As the solvents polarity increases, the ESIPT processes are more and more difficult to occur. It can be concluded that the strength of intramolecular hydrogen bonds will be affected by the solvents polarity, and the strength of intramolecular hydrogen bonds are directly related to the difficulty of the ESIPT processes.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.