Photoinduced electron transfer and geminate recombination are studied for the systems rhodamine 3B (R3B(+)) and rhodamine 6G (R6G(+)), which are cations, in neat neutral N,N-dimethylaniline (DMA). Following photoexcitation of R3B(+) or R6G(+) (abbreviated as R(+)), an electron is transferred from DMA to give the neutral radical R and the cation DMA(+). Because the DMA hole acceptor is the neat solvent, the forward transfer rate is very large, approximately 5x10(12) s(-1). The forward transfer is followed by geminate recombination, which displays a long-lived component suggesting several percent of the radicals escape geminate recombination. Spectrally resolved pump-probe experiments are used in which the probe is a "white" light continuum, and the full time-dependent spectrum is recorded with a spectrometer/charge-coupled device. Observations of stimulated emission (excited state decay-forward electron transfer), the R neutral radical spectrum, and the DMA(+) radical cation spectrum as well as the ground-state bleach recovery (geminate recombination) make it possible to unambiguously follow the electron transfer kinetics. Theoretical modeling shows that the long-lived component can be explained without invoking hole hopping or spin-forbidden transitions.

No abstract

Intermolecular photoinduced electron transfer between Rhodamine 3B cation (R3B + ), and dimethylanaline (DMA) is studied in a variety of solvents using pump-probe spectroscopy from ultrashort times (∼100 fs) to long times (∼10 ns). Excitation of R3B + results in the transfer of an electron from DMA and the production of the neutral radical R3B and the DMA + radical cation. Using a very broadband continuum probe, the generation of the R3B neutral radical is observed (430 nm) as well as the ground state bleach (550 nm), an excited state absorption (445 nm), and stimulated emission (620 nm). A good spectrum of the R3B radical is obtained by removing the overlapping excited state absorption. The forward electron transfer is examined by monitoring the time dependence of the stimulated emission. The data are analyzed with a previously presented detailed theory of through-solvent electron transfer for diffusing donors and acceptors, which includes the influences solvent structure and the hydrodynamic effect. Previous studies have shown that the theory works well for times >100 ps. It is found that in a non-hydrogen-bonding solvent (acetonitrile) and in mixtures of hydrogen-bonding solvents, the theory works well down to a few hundred femtoseconds with only one adjustable parameter, the contact electronic coupling matrix element. However, in pure hydrogen-bonding solvents, it is necessary to increase the solvent hard sphere radius used in the radial distribution to theoretically describe the data, which suggest a larger solvent structural unit than a single solvent molecule.

No abstract

No abstract