The solvent-induced UV−vis spectral shifts in 4-nitroanisole and
pyridinium N-phenoxide betaine-30 dyes
utilized in the famous π* and E
T(30)
polarity scales, respectively, are analyzed by molecular theories
in
terms of long-range solute−solvent interactions due to induction,
dispersion, and dipole−dipole forces. The
solvent-induced shift is represented as a sum of the differential
solute−solvent internal energy and the
differential energy of binding the solvent molecules in the solute
vicinity. The aim of the study is 3−fold:
(i) to clarify and quantify the relative effects of the three types of
interactions, (ii) to elicit the magnitude of
the effect of specific forces, and (iii) to evaluate the contribution
of the differential solvent binding to the
spectral shift. For (i), the dye properties directing the
weighting are the size and the differences in both
polarizability and dipole moment between ground and excited states.
Accordingly, the distinctions π* vs
E
T(30) derive from the different sizes (4.5
vs 6.4 Å), dramatically different polarizability enhancement
upon
excitation (6 vs 61 Å3), and opposite changes in the
dipole moment (+8.2 vs −8.6 D) of the two dyes.
As
a key result, the importance of dispersion forces to the spectral shift
even in highly polar liquids is emphasized.
While the contributions of dispersions and inductions are
comparable in the π* scale, inductions are clearly
overshadowed by dispersions in the E
T(30)
values. Both effects reinforce each other in π*, producing
the
well-known red shift. For the E
T(30)
scale, the effects due to dispersion and dipolar solvation have
opposite
signs making the red shift for nonpolar solvents switch to the blue for
polar solvents. For (ii), there is overall
reasonable agreement between theory and experiment for both dyes, as
far as the nonpolar and select solvents
are concerned, but there are also discrepant solvent classes.
Thus, the predicted E
T(30) values for
protic
solvents are uniformly too low, revealing a decrease in H-bonding
interactions of the excited state with lowered
dipole moment. Further, the calculated π* values of aromatic and
chlorinated solvents are throughout too
high, and this is explained by an increase in charge-transfer
interactions of the more delocalized excited
state. For (iii), the differential solvent binding energies have
been extracted from experimental thermochromic
data. For strongly polar fluids, the solute−solvent component of
the shift overshadows that from the solvent
binding energy variation. In nonpolar and weakly polar liquids the
two parts are comparable for 4-nitroanisole,
but the latter is still small for betaine-30. Experimental and
calculated values in the present work parameters
for betaine-30 are applied to calculating solvent reorganization
energies λs of intramolecular electron
transfer.
λs is separated into polar activation by the solvent
permanent dipoles and nonpolar activation due to induction
and dispersion forces. Experimental reorganization energies due to
the classical solvent and solute modes
...