Proton Transfer Coordinate Research Articles

Excited State Intramolecular Proton Transfer of 1-Hydroxyanthraquinone

The excited state intra-molecular proton transfer dynamics of 1-hydroxyanthraquinone in solution are investigated by femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy and quantum chemistry calculations. Two characteristic bands of excited state absorption and stimulated emission are observed in transient absorption spectra with the excitation by the pump wavelength of 400 nm. From the delayed stimulated emission signal, the time scale of the intra-molecular proton transfer is determined to be about 32 fs. The quantum chemistry calculations show that the molecular orbits and the order of the S2 and S1 states are reversal and a conical intersection is demonstrated to exist along the proton transfer coordinate. After proton transfer, the second excited state of tautomer populated via the conical intersection undergoes the internal conversion with ∼200 fs and the following intermolecular energy relaxation with ∼16 ps. The longer component 300 ps can be explained in terms of the relaxation from excited-state tautomer to its ground state. From our observations, two proton transfer pathways via a conical intersection are proposed and the dominated one preserves the molecular orbits.

Intersystem Crossing Pathway in Quinoline-Pyrazole Isomerism: A Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory Study on Excited-State Intramolecular Proton Transfer.

The dynamics of the excited-state intramolecular proton-transfer (ESIPT) reaction of quinoline-pyrazole (QP) isomers, designated as QP-I and QP-II, has been investigated by means of time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). A lower barrier has been found in the potential energy curve for the lowest singlet excited state (S1) along the proton-transfer coordinate of QP-II compared with that of QP-I; however, this is at variance with a recent experimental report [J. Phys. Chem. A 2010, 114, 7886-7891], in which the authors proposed that the ESIPT reaction would only proceed in QP-I due to the absence of a PT emission for QP-II. Therefore, several deactivating pathways have been investigated to determine whether fluorescence quenching occurs in the PT form of QP-II (PT-II). The S1 state of PT-II has nπ* character, which is a well-known dark state. Moreover, the energy gap between the S1 and T2 states is only 0.29 eV, implying that an intersystem crossing (ISC) process would occur rapidly following the ESIPT reaction. Therefore, it is demonstrated that the ESIPT could successfully proceed in QP-II and that the PT emission would be quenched by the ISC process.

Alkaline Earth Metal Ion/Dihydroxy-Terephthalate MOFs: Structural Diversity and Unusual Luminescent Properties.

Alkaline earth (group 2) metal ion organic frameworks (AEMOFs) represent an important subcategory of MOFs with interesting structures and physical properties. Five MOFs, namely, [Mg2(H2dhtp)2(μ-H2O)(NMP)4] (AEMOF-2), [Mg2(H2dhtp)1.5(DMAc)4]Cl·DMAc (AEMOF-3), [Ca(H2dhtp)(DMAc)2] (AEMOF-4), [Sr3(H2dhtp)3(DMAc)6]·H2O (AEMOF-5), and [Ba(H2dhtp)(DMAc)] (AEMOF-6) (H4dhtp = 2,5-dihydroxy-terepthalic acid; DMAc = N,N-dimethylacetamide; NMP = N-methylpyrrolidone), are presented herein. The reported MOFs display structural variety with diverse topologies and new structural features. Interestingly, AEMOF-6 is the first example of a Ba(2+)-H2dhtp(2-) MOF, and AEMOF-5 is only the second known Sr(2+)-H2dhtp(2-) MOF. Detailed photoluminescence studies revealed alkaline earth metal ion-dependent fluorescence properties of the materials, with the heavier alkaline earth metal ions exhibiting red-shifted emission with respect to the lighter ions at room temperature. A bathochromic shift of the emission was observed for the MOFs (mostly for AEMOF-3 and AEMOF-4) at 77 K as a result of excited state proton transfer (ESIPT), which involves an intramolecular proton transfer from a hydroxyl to an adjacent carboxylic group of the H2dhtp(2-) ligand. Remarkably, AEMOF-6 displays rare yellow fluorescence at room temperature, which is attractive for solid state lighting applications. To probe whether the alkaline earth metal ions are responsible for the unusual luminescence properties of the reported MOFs, the potential energy surfaces (PESs) of the ground, S0, and lowest energy excited singlet, S1, states of model complexes along the intramolecular proton transfer coordinate were calculated by DFT and TD-DFT methods.

Excited State Intramolecular Proton Transfer Dynamics of Oxadiazole‐based Dyes#

Excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) dynamics of two oxadiazole‐based model compounds, 2,5‐bis‐[5‐(4‐tert‐butyl‐phenyl)‐[1,3,4]oxadiazol‐2‐yl]‐phenol (SOX) and 2,5‐bis‐[5‐(4‐tert‐butyl‐phenyl)‐[1,3,4]oxadiazol‐2‐yl]‐benzene‐1,4‐diol (DOX) have been investigated by time‐resolved fluorescence. SOX and DOX have one and two intramolecular hydrogen bond moieties, respectively, where ESIPT may occur. Time‐resolved fluorescence fully resolves the ESIPT dynamics and establishes the two‐state conversion between the enol and keto isomers in the S1 potential energy surface. The apparent inconsistency between the ESIPT rate and the steady‐state spectrum is settled by invoking the conformational inhomogeneity including the intermolecular hydrogen bonding with protic solvents. The ESIPT rates of SOX and DOX are not as fast as those of typical ESIPT molecules, which indicates a finite barrier for the reaction. For DOX, ESIPT is enabled for only one hydroxyl moiety, and the ESIIPT rate is twice as fast as that of SOX. We propose a symmetric potential energy surface along the two proton transfer coordinates, and bifurcation of the initial probability density of the enol isomer into the two potential minima representing the keto isomer.

NMR study of CHN hydrogen bond and proton transfer in 1,1-dinitroethane complex with 2,4,6-trimethylpyridine.

The intermolecular complex with a CHN hydrogen bond formed by 1,1-dinitroethane (DNE) and 2,4,6-trimethylpyridine (collidine) dissolved in CD2Cl2 was studied experimentally by (1)H NMR spectroscopy at 180-300 K. Equilibrium between the molecular CH···N form and the zwitterionic C(-)/HN(+) form was detected in the slow exchange regime in the NMR time scale. No sign of a direct C(-)···HN(+) bond was observed; the ion pair is likely to be held by Coulomb interactions. Moreover, there are indications that the protonated base is involved in the formation of homoconjugated (NHN)(+) collidine-collidinium hydrogen bonded complexes. The reaction pathway of proton transfer in the DNE-pyiridine complex in a vacuum was studied computationally at the B3LYP/6-31++G(d,p) level of theory. NMR chemical shifts and coupling constants were calculated for a series of snapshots along the proton transfer coordinate. While the central carbon atom has a pyramidal (sp(3)) configuration in DNE, it is flat (sp(2)) in the DNE carbanion. As a result, the most indicative computed NMR parameter reflecting hybridization of a carbon atom appeared to be (1)JCC, which starts to change rapidly as soon as a structure with a quasi-symmetric C··H··N bond is reached. Couplings within the hydrogen bridge, (1)JCH, (1h)JHN, and (2)JCN, can serve as good indicators of the degree of proton transfer.

Nonadiabatic Dynamics of Photoinduced Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer in a Solvated Phenol–Amine Complex

Photoinduced concerted electron-proton transfer (EPT), denoted photo-EPT, is important for a wide range of energy conversion processes. Transient absorption and Raman spectroscopy experiments on the hydrogen-bonded p-nitrophenylphenol-t-butylamine complex, solvated in 1,2-dichloroethane, suggested that this complex may undergo photo-EPT. The experiments probed two excited electronic states that were interpreted as an intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) state and an EPT state. Herein mixed quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical nonadiabatic surface hopping dynamics is used to investigate the relaxation pathways following photoexcitation. The potential energy surface is generated on the fly with a semiempirical floating occupation molecular orbital complete active space configuration interaction method for the solute molecule and a molecular mechanical force field for the explicit solvent molecules. The free energy curves along the proton transfer coordinate illustrate that proton transfer is thermodynamically and kinetically favorable on the lower-energy excited state but not on the higher-energy excited state, supporting the characterization of these states as EPT and ICT, respectively. The nonadiabatic dynamics simulations indicate that the population decays from the ICT state to the EPT state in ∼100 fs and from the EPT state to the ground state on the slower time scale of ∼1 ps, qualitatively consistent with the experimental measurements. For ∼54% of the trajectories, the proton transfers from the phenol to the amine in ∼400 fs on the EPT state and then transfers back to the phenol rapidly upon decay to the ground state. Thus, these calculations augment the original interpretation of the experimental data by providing evidence of proton transfer on the EPT state prior to decay to the ground state. The fundamental insights obtained from these simulations are also relevant to other photo-EPT processes.

Slow proton transfer dynamics of a four member intramolecular hydrogen bonded isoindole fused imidazole system: A spectroscopic approach to photophysical properties

Abstract Spectral studies of 1-(2-hydroxy-5-chloro-phenyl)-3,5-dioxo-1 H -imidazo-[3,4- b ] isoindol (ADCL) in various solvents reveal the occurrence of excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) process. Excitation at the shorter wavelengths preferentially leads to dual emission from an equilibrium mixture of excited state normal (N*, lactim form) and tautomeric (T*, lactam form) form due to the operation of proton transfer process. The proton transfer dynamics is found to be very slow in various organic solvents and it occurs in the nano-second time scale. This may be due to high energy barrier along the proton transfer coordinate through a strained four member hydrogen bonded network compared to the usual six member hydrogen bonded ring.

A combined IR/IR and IR/UV spectroscopy study on the proton transfer coordinate of isolated 3-hydroxychromone in the electronic ground and excited state.

In this paper the excited state proton transfer (ESPT) of isolated 3-hydroxychromone (3-HC), the prototype of the flavonols, is investigated for the first time by combined IR/UV spectroscopy in molecular beam experiments. The IR/UV investigations are performed both for the electronically excited and electronic ground state indicating a spectral overlap of transitions of the 3-HC monomer and clusters with water in the electronic ground state, whereas in the excited state only the IR frequencies of the proton-transferred monomer structure are observed. Due to the loss of isomer and species selectivity with respect to the UV excitations IR/IR techniques are applied in order to figure out the assignment of the vibrational transitions in the S0 state. In this context the quadruple resonance IR/UV/IR/UV technique (originally developed to distinguish different isomers in the electronically excited state) could be applied to identify the OH stretching vibration of the monomer in the electronic ground state. In agreement with calculations the OH stretching frequency differs significantly from the corresponding values of substituted hydroxychromones.

Evidence of lactim-lactam photo-tautomerization through four-member intramolecular hydrogen bonded network in 5-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-hydroxy-nicotinonitrile

Lactim-lactam isomerisation behavior through proton transfer process at the strained four-member intramolecular H-bonded ring in 5-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-hydroxy-nicotinonitrile (FP2HN) has been elaborately investigated by steady state absorption and emission, time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy and quantum chemical calculations by the Density Functional Theory (DFT) method. Irrespective of the nature of the solvents, FP2HN exists as lactim (FP2HN) and lactam form (FP3PN) in the ground state. The observed large Stokes shifted emission band corresponds to the spectroscopic signature of lactim→lactam conversion by excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) reaction across the four member H-bonded network. The ESIPT reaction is found to be suppressed in the basic medium due to the formation of anionic species. The effect of increase of temperature on the spectral behavior and hence the calculated thermodynamic parameters (Ktau0, ΔG0, ΔH0, ΔS0) indicate spontaneous lactim→lactam isomerisation process. The spectral behavior of the studied molecule has been compared with its parent molecule, 2-hydroxypyridine (2HP) and 5-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-hydroxypyridine (FP2HP). Structural calculations and potential energy curves along the proton transfer coordinate by the DFT method have been successfully employed to correlate the experimental findings.

Proton Transfer in Nucleobases is Mediated by Water

Water plays a central role in chemistry and biology by mediating the interactions between molecules, altering energy levels of solvated species, modifying potential energy profiles along reaction coordinates, and facilitating efficient proton transport through ion channels and interfaces. This study investigates proton transfer in a model system comprising dry and microhydrated clusters of nucleobases. With mass spectrometry and tunable vacuum ultraviolet synchrotron radiation, we show that water shuts down ionization-induced proton transfer between nucleobases, which is very efficient in dry clusters. Instead, a new pathway opens up in which protonated nucleobases are generated by proton transfer from the ionized water molecule and elimination of a hydroxyl radical. Electronic structure calculations reveal that the shape of the potential energy profile along the proton transfer coordinate depends strongly on the character of the molecular orbital from which the electron is removed; i.e., the proton transfer from water to nucleobases is barrierless when an ionized state localized on water is accessed. The computed energetics of proton transfer is in excellent agreement with the experimental appearance energies. Possible adiabatic passage on the ground electronic state of the ionized system, though energetically accessible at lower energies, is not efficient. Thus, proton transfer is controlled electronically, by the character of the ionized state, rather than statistically, by simple energy considerations.

Quantum and Classical Simulations of Orotidine Monophosphate Decarboxylase: Support for a Direct Decarboxylation Mechanism

Orotidine 5'-monophosphate (OMP) decarboxylase (ODCase) catalyzes the decarboxylation of OMP to uridine 5'-monophosphate (UMP). Numerous studies of this reaction have suggested a plethora of mechanisms including covalent addition, ylide or carbene formation, and concerted or stepwise protonation. Recent experiments and simulations present strong evidence for a direct decarboxylation mechanism, although direct comparison between experiment and theory is still lacking. In the current work we present hybrid quantum mechanics-molecular mechanics simulations that address the detailed decarboxylation mechanisms for OMP and 5-fluoro-OMP by ODCase. Multidimensional potentials of mean force are computed as functions of structural progress coordinates for the Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum ODCase reaction: the decarboxylation reaction coordinate, an orbital rehybridization coordinate, and the proton transfer coordinate between Lys72 and the substrate. The computed free energy profiles are in accord with the available experimental data. To facilitate further direct comparison with experiment, we compute the kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) for the enzyme-catalyzed reactions using a mass-perturbation-based path-integral method. The computed KIE provide further support for a direct decarboxylation mechanism. In agreement with experiment, the data suggest a role for Lys72 in stabilizing the transition state in the catalysis of OMP and, to a somewhat lesser extent, in 5-fluoro-OMP.

Nuclear quantum effect on intramolecular hydrogen bond of hydrogen maleate anion: An ab initio path integral molecular dynamics study

Ab initio path integral molecular dynamics simulation was performed to understand the nuclear quantum effect on the hydrogen bond of hydrogen malonate anion. Static calculation predicted the proton transfer barrier as 0.12kcal/mol. Conventional ab initio molecular dynamics simulation at 300K found proton distribution with a double peak on the proton transfer coordinate. Inclusion of thermal effect alone elongates the hydrogen bond length, which increases the barrier height. Inclusion of nuclear quantum effect washes out this barrier, and distributes a single broad peak in the center. H/D isotope effect on the proton transfer is also discussed.

Computational investigation of the photoinduced homolytic dissociation of water in the pyridine–water complex

The photochemistry of the hydrogen-bonded pyridine-water complex has been investigated with ab initio computational methods. Vertical excitation energies, excited-state reaction paths for proton transfer as well as structures and energies of conical intersections and reaction barriers have been determined with multi-configuration self-consistent-field and multi-reference perturbation methods, as well as with single-reference coupled-cluster and propagator methods. In the pyridine-water complex, the energies of two charge-separated excited states of (1)nπ* and (1)ππ* character are connected to the energies of the locally excited (1)nπ* and (1)ππ* states of the pyridine chromophore via a low energy barrier. The charge-separated excited states are strongly stabilized by the transfer of a proton from water to pyridine. The energies of the resulting biradical states intersect the potential-energy surface of the closed-shell ground state as a function of the proton-transfer coordinate. The resulting radical pair may dissociate to yield pyridinium and hydroxyl radicals. The photochemistry of the hypervalent pyridinium radical has been explored with the same computational methods. It has been found that a low-lying dissociative (2)πσ* excited state exists in pyridinium, which can lead to the photodetachment of the hydrogen atom. Overall, the H2O molecule can thus be dissociated into H˙ and OH˙ radicals by the absorption of two ultraviolet photons. The relevance of these results for solar water splitting and solar carbon dioxide reduction is discussed.

Addressing Open Questions about Phosphate Hydrolysis Pathways by Careful Free Energy Mapping

The nature and mechanism of phosphate hydrolysis reactions are of great interest in view of the crucial role of these reactions in key biological processes. Although it is becoming clearer that the ultimate way of resolving mechanistic controversies must involve reliable theoretical studies, it is not widely realized that such studies cannot be performed at present by using most existing automated ways and that only careful systematic studies can lead to meaningful conclusions. The present work clarifies the above point by considering the hydrolysis of phosphate monoesters. The clarification starts by defining the actual issues that should be addressed in careful studies and by highlighting the problems with studies that ignore the need for unique mechanistic definitions (e.g., works that confuse associative and dissociative pathways). We then focus on the analysis of the proton transfer (PT) pathways in phosphate hydrolysis and on recent suggestions that PT involves more than one water molecule. Here we point out that most of the studies that found a proton transfer through several water molecules have not involved a sufficient systematic search of the relevant reaction coordinates. This includes both energy minimization approaches as well as a recent metadynamics (MTD) simulation study. To illustrate the crucial need of exploring the potential surfaces reliably, rather than relying on automated approaches, we present here a very careful study of the free energy landscape along a 3D reaction coordinate (RC) exploring both the standard 2D RC, comprised of the attacking and leaving group reaction coordinates, as well as of the proton transfer (PT) coordinate. Our study points out that QM/MM minimization or MTD studies that concluded that the hydrolysis of phosphate monoesters involves a PT through several water molecules, have not explored carefully the single water (1W) path (that involves a direct PT form the attacking water molecule to the phosphate oxygen). Furthermore, we identified the most likely reason for the difficulty in finding the 1W path by QM/MM minimization methods, as well as by the current MTD simulations. We also discuss the problems with current studies that challenge the phosphate as a base mechanism and emphasize that all recent studies found associative/concerted paths (although many have not realized the meaning of their results). Finally, although we clearly do not have the last word about the 1W versus 2W paths we believe that we illustrated that the crucial mechanistic problems with alternative pathways should not be resolved by just running black box search approaches.

Constructing Periodic Phase Space Orbits from ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Trajectories to Analyze Vibrational Spectra: Case Study of the Zundel (H5O2+) Cation

A method of analysis is introduced to probe the spectral features obtained from ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. Here, the instantaneous mass-weighted velocities are projected onto irreducible representations constructed from discrete time translation groups comprising operations that invoke the time-domain symmetries (or periodic phase space orbits) reflected in the spectra. The projected velocities are decomposed using singular value decomposition (SVD) to construct a set of "modes" pertaining to a given frequency domain. These modes now include all anharmonicities, as sampled during the dynamics simulations. In this approach, the underlying motions are probed in a manner invariant with respect to coordinate transformations, operations being performed along the time axis rather than coordinate axes, making the analysis independent of choice of reference frame. The method is used to probe the underlying motions responsible for the doublet at ∼1000 cm(-1) in the vibrational spectrum of the H5O2(+), Zundel cation. The associated analysis results are confirmed by projecting the Fourier transformed velocities onto the harmonic normal mode coordinates and a set of mass-weighted, symmetrized Jacobi coordinates. It is found that the two peaks of the doublet are described and differentiated by their respective contributions from the proton transfer, water-water stretch, and water wag coordinates, as these are defined. Temperature dependent effects are also briefly noted.

Hydrogen Bond Geometries and Proton Tautomerism of Homoconjugated Anions of Carboxylic Acids Studied via H/D Isotope Effects on 13C NMR Chemical Shifts

Ten formally symmetric anionic OHO hydrogen bonded complexes, modeling Asp/Glu amino acid side chain interactions in nonaqueous environment (CDF(3)/CDF(2)Cl solution, 200-110 K) have been studied by (1)H, (2)H, and (13)C NMR spectroscopy, i.e. intermolecularly H-bonded homoconjugated anions of acetic, chloroacetic, dichloroacetic, trifluoroacetic, trimethylacetic, and isobutyric acids, and intramolecularly H-bonded hydrogen succinate, hydrogen rac-dimethylsuccinate, hydrogen maleate, and hydrogen phthalate. In particular, primary H/D isotope effects on the hydrogen bond proton signals as well as secondary H/D isotope effects on the (13)C signals of the carboxylic groups are reported and analyzed. We demonstrate that in most of the studied systems there is a degenerate proton tautomerism between O-H···O(-) and O(-)···H-O structures which is fast in the NMR time scale. The stronger is the proton donating ability of the acid, the shorter and more symmetric are the H-bonds in each tautomer of the homoconjugate. For the maleate and phthalate anions exhibiting intramolecular hydrogen bonds, evidence for symmetric single well potentials is obtained. We propose a correlation between H/D isotope effects on carboxylic carbon chemical shifts and the proton transfer coordinate, q(1) = ½(r(OH) - r(HO)), which allows us to estimate the desired OHO hydrogen bond geometries from the observed (13)C NMR parameters, taking into account the degenerate proton tautomerism.

FTIR study of the hydrogen bond symmetry in protonated homodimers of pyridine and collidine in solution

Abstract FTIR spectra of the protonated homodimers of pyridine and of 2,4,6-trimethylpyridine in solution in dichloromethane have been studied in the temperature interval from 290 to 160 K. It was found that the frequencies of the symmetrical and antisymmetrical CN vibrations are affected by hydrogen bonding strong enough to discriminate between the spectral pattern of hydrogen bonded and protonated pyridines. The experimental results obtained confirm asymmetric structure of both the systems even in low-polar solvent. Optimized structure, energy, vibrational spectrum and potential energy profile for proton transfer coordinate have been studied by DFT/B3LYP method. The calculation predicts that for the studied homodimers the proton transfer coordinate is involved not only in the stretching vibration ν (NH), but also in the rings vibrations ν (CN). As a result, inside a certain interval of the N⋯H distances the frequency of ν (CN) band should be strongly affected by H/D substitution.

Modeling the Transition State of Enzyme-catalyzed Phosphoryl Transfer Reaction Using QM/MM Method

Reversible phosphorylation of proteins is a post-translational modification that regulates diverse biological processes. The molecular mechanism underlying phosphoryl transfer catalyzed by enzymes, in particular the nature of transition state (TS), remains a subject of active debate. Structural evidence supports an associative TS, whereas physical organic studies point to a dissociative character. In this article, we briefly introduce our recent effort using the hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) simulations to resolve the controversy. We perform QM/MM simulations for the reversible phosphorylation of phosphoserine phosphatase (PSP), which belongs to one of the largest phosphotransferase families characterized to data. Both phosphorylation and dephosphorylation reactions are investigated based on the two-dimensional energy surfaces along phosphoryl and proton transfer coordinates. The resultant structures of the active site at TS in both reactions have compact geometries but a less electron density of the phosphoryl group. This suggests that the TS of PSP has a geometrically associative yet electronically dissociative character and strongly depends on proton transfer being coupled with phosphoryl transfer. Structure and literature database searches on phosphotransferases suggest that such a hybrid TS is consistent with many structures and physical organic studies and likely holds for most enzymes catalyzing phosphoryl transfer.

Geometrically associative yet electronically dissociative character in the transition state of enzymatic reversible phosphorylation

Reversible phosphorylation of proteins is a post-translational modification that regulates diverse biological processes. The molecular mechanism underlying phosphoryl transfer catalyzed by enzymes remains a subject of active debate. In particular, the nature of transition state (TS), whether it has an associative or dissociative character, has been one of the most controversial issues. Structural evidence supports associative TS, whereas physical organic studies point to a dissociative character. Here we perform hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics simulations for the reversible phosphorylation of phosphoserine phosphatase (PSP) to study the nature of the TS. Both phosphorylation and dephosphorylation reactions are investigated based on the two-dimensional energy surfaces along phosphoryl and proton transfer coordinates. The structures of the active site at TS in both reactions reveal compact geometries, consistent with crystal structures of PSP with phosphate analogues. However, the electron density of the phosphoryl group in both TS structures slightly decreases compared with that in the reactant states. These findings suggest that the TS of PSP has a geometrically associative yet electronically dissociative character and strongly depends on proton transfer being coupled with phosphoryl transfer. Structure and literature database, which searches on phosphotransferases, suggest that such a hybrid TS is consistent with many structures and physical organic studies and likely holds for most enzymes catalyzing phosphoryl transfer.

Excited State Lactim to Lactam Type Tautomerization Reaction in 5-(4-Fluorophenyl)-2-Hydroxypyridine: Spectroscopic Study and Quantum Chemical Calculation

The photophysical properties of 5-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-hydroxypyridine (FP2HP) have been studied by steady state and time resolved spectroscopy in combination with quantum chemical calculations. The molecule FP2HP exists as lactim and lactam form in the ground state due to small stability difference but does not undergo lactim to lactam isomerisation due to high barrier energy. Whereas in the excited state the lactim form undergoes tautomerization producing red shifted emission of the lactam tautomer along with the local emission of the lactim form. In polar protic solvents, the barrier for lactim-lactam tautomerization rapidly decreases forming the lactam tautomer only. Temperature has pronounced effect on the excited state tautomerization equilibrium and is clearly reflected in the measured equilibrium constant (K(tau)(0)) and free energy change (ΔG(0)). Structural calculations at Hartree Fock and Density Functional Theory levels, calculated stability of the isomers in different solvents using Polarized Continuum Model and the theoretical potential energy surfaces for the ground and excited states along the proton transfer coordinate are reported for the tautomeric equilibrium of FP2HP.