UV–Vis absorption spectra and electronic structure of merocyanines in the gas phase

Abstract

Gas-phase absorption spectra of a merocyanine vinylogous series have been studied for the first time. In vapour, their long-wavelength absorption bands were found to be considerably shifted hypsochromically, broader, more symmetrical, less intense, and their vinylene shift much smaller than even in low-polarity n-hexane. This indicates that in the gas phase their electronic structure closely approaches the nonpolar polyene limiting structure. The TDDFT calculations of the long-wavelength electronic transitions in the studied merocyanines in vacuo demonstrated good-to-excellent correlation – depending on the functional used – with the obtained experimental data. For comparison, the solvent effects was accounted for using the polarizable continuum model (PCM) with n-hexane and ethanol as low-polarity and high-polarity media, and compared with the UV–Vis spectral data in these solvents. In this case, the discrepancy between theory and experiment was much greater, increasing at that with the polymethine chain length.