Charge transfer complexes between 4,4′-disubstituted diphenyldiacetylenes: experimental and theoretical study

Abstract

Novel charge transfer (CT) complexes containing donor and acceptor derivatives of diphenyldiacetylene have been synthesised and characterised. The structure of CT complexes was modelled at the B3LYP/6-31G(d)//B3LYP/6-31G(d) level of theory. It was found that the complex formation is mainly due to dipole–dipole interaction between side groups of diacetylene molecules and there was no significant charge transfer between donor and acceptor in the ground state. On the other hand, optical excitation of CT complexes leads to strong charge transfer from donor to acceptor molecule as followed from the modelling using time-dependent density functional theory (DFT) method. Diacetylene molecules adopt strongly bent configuration in CT complexes which is prohibitive for solid-state topochemical polymerisation of diacetylenes