Excited-State Decay Pathways of Molecular Rotors: Twisted Intermediate or Conical Intersection?

J Phys Chem Lett. 2016 Nov 3;7(21):4285-4290. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.6b02277. Epub 2016 Oct 17.

Abstract

The fluorescence intensity of molecular rotors containing the dicyanomethylenedihydrofuran (DCDHF) motif increases strongly with solvent viscosity. Single-bond and double-bond rotations have been proposed as pathways of nonradiative decay for this and related molecular rotors. We show here that both are involved in the case of DCDHF rotors: Fluorescence is quenched by rotation around the dicyanomethylene double bond in nonpolar solvents, but in a sufficiently polar environment rotation about a formally single bond leads to a dark internal charge-transfer state.