Simulation of Solvatochromic Phenomena in Xanthione Using Explicit Solvent Methods

Abstract

Xanthione is a sulfated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon which exhibits unique anti-Kasha properties and substantial sensitivity to its medium. Due to this sensitivity however, this makes xanthione-based systems very difficult to simulate. Further, xanthione’s is understood to be come more photostable in the presence of a highly polar medium, however whether these photophysical properties could be taken advantage of for certain applications remains to be seen. In clarifying long-held beliefs of specific solvent effects, we apply a rigorous theoretical solvent analysis in both implicit and explicit solvent mediums to elucidate a more complete description of solvent polarity sensitivity in xanthione using both quantum chemical and molecular dynamics techniques. Not only was it found that explicit solvation methods are vital in an accurate description of the system, only a handful of explicit solvent molecules in the simulation are required to yield an appropriate electronic description. This short work is vital to devising future applications for xanthione-based and other quantum technologies, and is an important foundation stone on this journey.