Excited-state dynamics of oxazole: A combined electronic structure calculations and dynamic simulations study

Abstract

In the present work, the combined electronic structure calculations and surface hopping simulations have been performed to investigate the excited-state decay of the parent oxazole in the gas phase. Our calculations show that the S2 state decay of oxazole is an ultrafast process characterized by the ring-opening and ring-closure of the five-membered oxazole ring, in which the triplet contribution is minor. The ring-opening involves the OC bond cleavage affording the nitrile ylide and airine intermediates, while the ring-closure gives rise to a bicyclic species through a 25 bond formation. The azirine and bicyclic intermediates in the S0 state are very likely involved in the phototranspositions of oxazoles. This is different from the previous mechanism in which these intermediates in the T1 state have been proposed for these phototranspositions.