Trajectory Surface Hopping Dynamics Research Articles

How Do the Position and Number of Methyl Substituents Affect the Photochemical Process of Criegee Intermediate? Trajectory Surface-Hopping Dynamics of Four-Carbon CIs.

Electronic-structure calculations combined with nonadiabatic trajectory surface-hopping (TSH) dynamic simulations were carried out on two alkenyl-substituted Criegee intermediates (CIs), i.e., propenyl-substituted CI (PCI) and 1-methyl-propenyl substituted CI (MPCI), in order to investigate the influence of the position and number of substituents on the photochemical process of CI in S1 states. It is found that they play critical roles in the reactivity, dominant product channel, and mechanism of the CIs. More specifically, introducing a methyl group on either C1 (α-C) or C3 (γ-C) position of a vinyl-substituted CI (VCI) skeleton facilitates the rotation of the C1═O1 bond and leads to the formation of a three-membered dioxirane ring; meanwhile, it evidently enhances the reactively of the S1-state molecule. Meanwhile, methyl substitution on the vinyl moiety [i.e., C2 (β-C) and C3 (γ-C) positions] is beneficial for the rotation of the C2═C3 bond and thus facilitates the formation of the five-membered 1,2-dioxole ring, and the substitution on C2 site decreases the reactivity. The cosubstitution of C2 and C3 atoms by methyl groups well balances the features of VCI in the sense of high reactivity, consistently predominant channel, and possible dioxole side-product. The findings here not only deepen the knowledge on the photochemical processes of the CI but also inspire the rethinking of the "old" concept of substitution effect.

The development of the QM/MM interface and its application for the on-the-fly QM/MM nonadiabatic dynamics in JADE package: Theory, implementation, and applications.

Understanding the nonadiabatic dynamics of complex systems is a challenging task in computational photochemistry. Herein, we present an efficient and user-friendly quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) interface to run on-the-fly nonadiabatic dynamics. Currently, this interface consists of an independent set of codes designed for general-purpose use. Herein, we demonstrate the ability and feasibility of the QM/MM interface by integrating it with our long-term developed JADE package. Tailored to handle nonadiabatic processes in various complex systems, especially condensed phases and protein environments, we delve into the theories, implementations, and applications of on-the-fly QM/MM nonadiabatic dynamics. The QM/MM approach is established within the framework of the additive QM/MM scheme, employing electrostatic embedding, link-atom inclusion, and charge-redistribution schemes to treat the QM/MM boundary. Trajectory surface-hopping dynamics are facilitated using the fewest switches algorithm, encompassing classical and quantum treatments for nuclear and electronic motions, respectively. Finally, we report simulations of nonadiabatic dynamics for two typical systems: azomethane in water and the retinal chromophore PSB3 in a protein environment. Our results not only illustrate the power of the QM/MM program but also reveal the important roles of environmental factors in nonadiabatic processes.

Which Electronic Structure Method to Choose in Trajectory Surface Hopping Dynamics Simulations? Azomethane as a Case Study.

Nonadiabatic dynamics simulations have become a standard approach to explore photochemical reactions. Such simulations require underlying potential energy surfaces and couplings between them, calculated at a chosen level of theory, yet this aspect is rarely assessed. Here, in combination with the popular trajectory surface hopping dynamics method, we use a high-accuracy XMS-CASPT2 electronic structure level as a benchmark for assessing the performances of various post-Hartree-Fock methods (namely, CIS, ADC(2), CC2, and CASSCF) and exchange-correlation functionals (PBE, PBE0, and CAM-B3LYP) in a TD-DFT/TDA context, using the isomerization around a double bond as test case. Different relaxation pathways are identified, and the ability of the different methods to reproduce their relative importance and time scale is discussed. The results show that multireference electronic structure methods should be preferred, when studying nonadiabatic decay between excited and ground states. If not affordable, TD-DFT with TDA and hybrid functionals and ADC(2) are efficient alternatives but overestimate the nonradiative decay yield and thus may miss deexcitation pathways.

Photoinduced isomerization mechanism of isatin N<sup>2</sup>-diphenylhydrazones molecular switch

Hydrazone molecular switches have significant application value in supramolecular chemistry. A new type of hydrazone molecular switch, named isatin N<sup>2</sup>-diphenylhydrazone, has been synthesized. Owing to its cis-trans isomerization characteristics under visible light excitation, ease of synthesizing of derivatives, and sensitivity to external stimuli, it has important application value in the field of biochemistry. Because of its forward and backward visible light excitation characteristics, it is considered a class of compound that is very suitable for molecular switches, and it has a wide application value in fields such as biotechnology. In addition, the derivatives compound exhibits strong interactions with negative ions, which enhances its function as a molecular switch, making it a four-state molecular switch that can be achieved by a single molecule. However, the photo-induced isomerization mechanism of these new molecular switches is not yet clear, and whether there are novel phenomena in the isomerization process is also unknown. In this work, a semi empirical OM2/MRCI based trajectory surface hopping dynamics method is adopted to systematically study a photo induced isomerization mechanism based on the E-Z isomerization process of the isatin N<sup>2</sup>-diphenylhydrazones molecular switch. Optimization configuration and the average lifetime of the first excited S<sub>1</sub> state are obtained by using the semi-empirical OM2/MRCI method of molecular switch. It is found that the average lifetime of the S<sub>1</sub> excited state of the E-configuration molecular switch is about 107 fs, and the quantum yield of E-Z isomerization of the molecular switch is 16.01%. By calculating the photo induced isomerization process of the molecular switch, two different isomerization mechanisms of the molecular switch are identified. In addition to the traditional molecular switch isomerization mechanism revolving around the C=N bond, a new isomerization mechanism, i.e. the face-to-face twisting of the molecular switch rotor part is elucidated. By calculating the time-resolved fluorescence radiation spectrum, it is predicted that there may be a very fast fluorescence quenching phenomenon occurring in about 75 fs in the isomerization process, slightly faster than the S<sub>1</sub> average decay events (107 fs). The information about wavelength-resolved attenuation at different times is also calculated, which reflects the ultrafast fluorescence quenching process accompanied by fluorescence red shift, ranging from 2.1 × 10<sup>4</sup> cm<sup>–1</sup> to 3.4 × 10<sup>4</sup> cm<sup>–1</sup>. By comparing the calculated fluorescence spectra with the average lifetime of excited states, the existence of “dark states” is proposed, and possible explanations for the existence of “dark states” are provided, and those “dark states” may be related to lower quantum yields. The research results can provide theoretical guidance for the design and application of new molecular switches. The ease of synthesis and sensitivity to external stimuli of its derivatives make those compounds extremely valuable in molecular switching and light measurement applications.

Ultrafast Intersystem Crossing Dynamics of 6-Selenoguanine in Water.

Rationalizing the photochemistry of nucleobases where an oxygen is replaced by a heavier atom is essential for applications that exploit near-unity triplet quantum yields. Herein, we report on the ultrafast excited-state deactivation mechanism of 6-selenoguanine (6SeGua) in water by combining nonadiabatic trajectory surface-hopping dynamics with an electrostatic embedding quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) scheme. We find that the predominant relaxation mechanism after irradiation starts on the bright singlet S2 state that converts internally to the dark S1 state, from which the population is transferred to the triplet T2 state via intersystem crossing and finally to the lowest T1 state. This S2 → S1 → T2 → T1 deactivation pathway is similar to that observed for the lighter 6-thioguanine (6tGua) analogue, but counterintuitively, the T1 lifetime of the heavier 6SeGua is shorter than that of 6tGua. This fact is explained by the smaller activation barrier to reach the T1/S0 crossing point and the larger spin–orbit couplings of 6SeGua compared to 6tGua. From the dynamical simulations, we also calculate transient absorption spectra (TAS), which provide two time constants (τ1 = 131 fs and τ2 = 191 fs) that are in excellent agreement with the experimentally reported value (τexp = 130 ± 50 fs) (Farrel et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc.2018, 140, 11214). Intersystem crossing itself is calculated to occur with a time scale of 452 ± 38 fs, highlighting that the TAS is the result of a complex average of signals coming from different nonradiative processes and not intersystem crossing alone.

Sampling effects in quantum mechanical/molecular mechanics trajectory surface hopping non-adiabatic dynamics.

The impact of different initial conditions in non-adiabatic trajectory surface hopping dynamics within a hybrid quantum mechanical/molecular mechanics scheme is investigated. The influence of a quantum sampling, based on a Wigner distribution, a fully thermal sampling, based on classical molecular dynamics, and a quantum sampled system, but thermally equilibrated with the environment, is investigated on the relaxation dynamics of solvated fulvene after light irradiation. We find that the decay from the first singlet excited state to the ground state shows high dependency on the initial condition and simulation parameters. The three sampling methods lead to different distributions of initial geometries and momenta, which then affect the fate of the excited state dynamics. We evaluated both the effect of sampling geometries and momenta, analysing how the ultrafast decay of fulvene changes accordingly. The results are expected to be of interest to decide how to initialize non-adiabatic dynamics in the presence of the environment.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Chemistry without the Born–Oppenheimer approximation’.

Understanding photolysis of CH3ONO2 with on-the-fly nonadiabatic dynamics simulation at the ADC(2) level

The nonadiabatic dynamics of methyl nitrate (CH3ONO2) is studied with the on-the-fly trajectory surface hopping dynamics at the ADC(2) level. The results confirmed the existence of the ultrafast nonadiabatic decay to the electronic ground state. When the dynamics starts from S1 and S2, the photoproducts are CH3O+NO2, consistent with previous results obtained from the experimental studies and theoretical dynamics simulations at more accurate XMS-CASPT2 level. The photolysis products are CH3O+NO2 at the ADC(2) level when the dynamics starts from S3, while different photolysis products were obtained in previous experimental and theoretical works. These results demonstrate that the ADC(2) method may still be useful for treating the photolysis mechanism of CH3ONO2 at the long-wavelength UV excitation, while great caution should be paid due to its inaccurate performance in the description of the photolysis dynamics at the short-wavelength UV excitation. This gives valuable information to access the accuracy when other alkyl nitrates are treated at the ADC(2) level.

Prediction of the excited-state reaction channels in photo-induced processes of nitrofurantoin using first-principle calculations and dynamics simulations

The understanding of the photochemistry of antibiotic compounds is important because it gives the direct information on the possible environmental pollution caused by them. Due to their large size, the theoretical studies of their excited-state reactions are rather challenging. In current work, we combined the on-the-fly trajectory surface-hopping dynamics, conical-intersection optimizations and excited-state pathway calculations to study the photochemistry of the trans-isomer of nitrofurantoin, a widely-used drug to treat the urinary tract infections. The dynamics-then-pathway approach was taken. First the trajectory surface hopping dynamics at the state-averaged complete-active-space self-consistent-field (SA-CASSCF) level with small active space and small basis sets were run. Second, the minimum-energy conical-intersection optimizations were performed. Finally the excited pathways from the Frank-Condon region to different reaction channels were built at the multi-state multi-reference second-order perturbation (MS-CASPT2) level with large active space and large basis set. Several possible channels responsible for the photo-induced reaction mechanism of the trans-nitrofurantoin were obtained, including the cleavage of the NO bond of the NO2 moiety, the photoisomerization at the central CN bond, and other internal conversion channels. Our findings give some preliminary explanations on available experimental observations. It is also demonstrates that the current theoretical approach is a powerful tool to explore the excited-state reactions in the photochemistry of media-sized or large-sized drug compounds.

Excited state dynamics of cis,cis-1,3-cyclooctadiene: Non-adiabatic trajectory surface hopping.

We have performed trajectory surface hopping dynamics for cis,cis-1,3-cyclooctadiene to investigate the photochemical pathways involved after being excited to the S1 state. Our calculations reveal ultrafast decay to the ground state, facilitated by conical intersections involving distortions around the double bonds. The main distortions are localized on one double bond, involving twisting and pyramidalization of one of the carbons of that double bond (similar to ethylene), while a limited number of trajectories decay via delocalized (non-local) twisting of both double bonds. The interplay between local and non-local distortions is important in our understanding of photoisomerization in conjugated systems. The calculations show that a broad range of the conical intersection seam space is accessed during the non-adiabatic events. Several products formed on the ground state have also been observed.

Trajectory surface-hopping dynamics of light-driven imine switches

We report the photodynamics of switchable photoisomerization processes of a camphorquinone imine (model-k) and alkene imine (model-a) by trajectory surface-hopping (TSH) molecular dynamics at the SA4-CASSCF/def2-SVP level. In both cases, ultrafast nonadiabatic Z-E photoisomerizations are observed. For model-k, the product yields of Z → E and E → Z photoisomerization are 0.47 and 0.27, respectively; and those for model-a are much higher (0.72 and 0.79). Therefore, the alkene-imine is expected to be a superior candidate for ultrafast light-driven molecular switches.

Deciphering the Mechanism of Aggregation-Induced Emission of a Quinazolinone Derivative Displaying Excited-State Intramolecular Proton-Transfer Properties: A QM, QM/MM, and MD Study.

A combination of excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) and aggregation-induced emission (AIE) has opened new opportunities to develop color-tunable luminescent materials with high quantum yield. Understanding the emission mechanism of these luminophores is essential for the molecular design and construction of a functional system. Herein, we report QM (MS-CASPT2//TD-DFT, MS-CASPT2//CASSCF) and ONIOM (QM/MM) studies on the fluorescence quenching and AIE mechanisms of 2-(2-hydroxy-phenyl)-4(3H)-quinazolinone with typical characteristics of AIE and ESIPT as an example. The computational results indicate that in the tetrahydrofuran solution, once being excited to the S1 state, the molecule tends to undergo an ultrafast, barrierless ESIPT from enol to keto tautomer and then accesses a S1/S0 conical intersection in the vicinity of a C═C bond twisted intramolecular charge-transfer (TICT) intermediate, leading to a nonradiative decay from the excited to ground state. Hence, the TICT-induced nonadiabatic transition, which has been further confirmed by the on-the-fly trajectory surface hopping dynamics simulations, accounts for the fluorescence quenching in solution. In contrast, in the solid state, the nonradiative relaxation pathway via the C═C bond rotation is suppressed due to environmental hindrance, leaving the ESIPT-induced enol-keto tautomerization as the only excited-decay channel, thus the fluorescence is observably enhanced in the crystal.

Treatment of Nonadiabatic Dynamics by On-The-Fly Trajectory Surface Hopping Dynamics

Treatment of Nonadiabatic Dynamics by On-The-Fly Trajectory Surface Hopping Dynamics

Dioxygen Activation by Iron Complexes: The Catalytic Role of Intersystem Crossing Dynamics for a Heme-Related Model

Enzymes containing heme, nonheme iron, or copper active sites play an essential role in the dioxygen binding and activation for substrate oxidation. The conceptual challenges to the quantitative modeling of this primary catalytic step arise from (1) instrinsic electronic nonadiabaticity of the spin flip events of the triplet dioxygen molecule (3O2), mediated by spin–orbit coupling and (2) possible heat dissipation channels, due to the high exothermicity of dioxygen binding processes. Herein, the spin-forbidden dioxygen binding dynamics of a reduced heme model was directly investigated in terms of the nonadiabatic trajectory surface-hopping dynamics, involving the coupled singlet, triplet and quintet states. This work reveals the complexity of this elemental reaction, and the binding/dissociation dynamics of iron peroxo species is important to interpret the subsequent H atom abstraction reaction step. Furthermore, we identify nonadiabatic dynamical effects that could not be observed through traditional cal...

Performance of TDDFT with and without spin-flip in trajectory surface hopping dynamics: cis–trans azobenzene photoisomerization

Time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) with and without a spin-flip scheme is extensively compared in on-the-fly trajectory surface hopping molecular dynamics with a global switching (GS) algorithm. The simulation is performed for cis-trans azobenzene photoisomerization following the excitation to the S1(nπ*) state that is involved in a conical intersection (CI) between ground and first excited states. This CI is found correctly to be a single-cone (artificial double-cone) structure computed by the TDDFT method with (and without) spin-flip. Nevertheless, simulated quantum yields and lifetimes are in very good agreement; 0.43 and 63 fs (0.34 and 62 fs) for cis-to-trans isomerization, and 0.11 and 2200 fs (0.13 and 1040 fs) for trans-to-cis isomerization, by TDDFT with (and without) a spin-flip scheme. Distributions of excited-state decay, hopping spots and products, as well as typical trajectories have similar patterns and behaviors with and without spin-flip. The global switching trajectory surface hopping method is demonstrated to be well suited to TDDFT on-the-fly dynamic simulation with and without spin-flip. For comparison, previous simulations with the CASSCF method and Tully's fewest-switches trajectory surface hopping method are also addressed.

Methyl substitution enhanced photoisomerization of trans,trans-1,4-diphenyl-1,3-butadiene: direct ab initio trajectory surface hopping dynamic simulations.

Single methyl group substitution on the p-position of the phenyl ring (tt-DPB-me1) or the conjugated C[double bond, length as m-dash]C bond (tt-DPB-me2) has been found to enhance the photoisomerization efficiency for two trans,trans-1,4-diphenyl-1,3-butadiene (tt-DPB) derivatives by performing direct ab initio trajectory surface hopping dynamics simulations. With implementation of the Zhu-Nakamura global switching algorithm, on-the-fly trajectory surface hopping dynamics simulations based on the ground state and first excited state potential energies and their gradients calculated by the two state averaged complete active space self-consistent field method with basis set 6-31G were propagated up to 3000 femtoseconds. Four-hundred sampling trajectories have been performed for both tt-DPB-me1 and tt-DPB-me2, and five distinctive photoisomerization pathways were observed for both of them. Among which, One Bond Flipping (OBF) and Hula-Twist (HT) are the dominant photoisomerization mechanisms. The lifetime of the S1 state is estimated to be 1423.0 fs (819.0 fs), and the photoisomerization quantum yields are 0.088 (0.378) in tt → ct, 0.070 (0.015) in tt → tc and 0.073 (0.065) in tt → cc for tt-DPB-me1 (tt-DPB-me2). By analyzing the dynamics simulation data, it can be concluded that closer methyl substitution with respect to the central C[double bond, length as m-dash]C double bond results in a higher percentage of the corresponding photoisomerization products. The present simulation results are in agreement with the ultrafast spectroscopy measurements, which unveil the photoisomerization mechanisms of tt-DPB derivatives and present useful physical insights on how to tune the photoisomerization of the substituted DPB.

An excited-state Wolff rearrangement reaction of 5-diazo Meldrum's acid: an ab initio on-the-fly nonadiabatic dynamics simulation.

A global switching on-the-fly trajectory surface hopping dynamics simulation at the 3SA-CASSCF(12,11)/6-31G* quantum level has been employed to probe the photo-induced Wolff rearrangement (WR) reaction of 5-diazo Meldrum's acid (DMA) within three low-lying electronic excited states. The present simulation predicted that the branching ratios for relaxing back to the ground state, isomerizing to diazirine, and reaction to ketene I via carbene I are 69% ± 0.1, 3% ± 0.4, and 28% ± 0.1, which are in excellent agreement with those obtained by the femtosecond spectroscopy experiment, 67%, 3% and 30%, respectively. In particular, the present simulation revealed that the major WR reaction to ketene I pathway is stepwise via the excited-state to carbene I (17.8% ± 0.2) and via the ground-state to carbene I (8.7% ± 0.2), and the minor pathway is concerted synchronous (1.5% ± 0.6). The photo-induced WR reaction of DMA has been quantitatively interpreted in terms of the distribution of extended seam surfaces as a function of CN dissociation bonds for two important conical intersections within three low-lying electronic excited states. Ultrafast dynamic time constants have been estimated to be about 500 fs ± 120 fs and 180 fs ± 80 fs for the stepwise and the concerted WR reaction to ketene I which are also in good agreement with those determined by the experiment. Therefore, the photo-induced excited-state WR reaction mechanism has been quantitatively revealed by the present real-time dynamics simulation.

Visible-Light-Mediated Excited State Relaxation in Semi-Synthetic Genetic Alphabet: d5SICS and dNaM.

The excited state dynamics of an unnatural base pair (UBP) d5SICS/dNaM were investigated by accurate ab-initio calculations. Time-dependent density functional and high-level multireference calculations (MS-CASPT2) were performed to elucidate the excitation of this UBP and its excited state relaxation mechanism. After excitation to the bright state S2 (ππ*), it decays to the S1 state and then undergoes efficient intersystem crossing to the triplet manifold. The presence of sulfur atom in d5SICS leads to strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and a small energy gap that facilitates intersystem crossing from S1 (ns π*) to T2 (ππ*) followed by internal conversion to T1 state. Similarly in dNaM, the deactivation pathway follows analogous trends. CASPT2 calculations suggest that the S1 (ππ*) state is a dark state below the accessible S2 (ππ*) bright state. During the ultrafast deactivation, it exhibits bond length inversion. From S1 state, significant SOC leads the population transfer to T3 due to a smaller energy gap. Henceforth, fast internal conversion occurs from T3 to T2 followed by T1 . From time-dependent trajectory surface hopping dynamics, it is found that excited state relaxation occurs on a sub-picosecond timescale in d5SICS and dNaM. Our findings strongly suggest that there is enough energy available in triplet state of UBP to generate reactive oxygen species and induce phototoxicity with respect to cellular DNA.

"Watching" the Dark State in Ultrafast Nonadiabatic Photoisomerization Process of a Light-Driven Molecular Rotary Motor.

Photoisomerization dynamics of a light-driven molecular rotary motor, 9-(2-methyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-cyclopenta[a]naphthalen-1-ylidene)-9H-fluorene, is investigated with trajectory surface-hopping dynamics at the semiempirical OM2/MRCI level. The rapid population decay of the S1 excited state for the M isomer is observed, with two different decay time scales (500 fs and 1.0 ps). By weighting the contributions of fast and slow decay trajectories, the averaged lifetime of the S1 excited state is about 710 fs. The calculated quantum yield of the M-to-P photoisomerization of this molecular rotary motor is about 59.9%. After the S0 → S1 excitation, the dynamical process of electronic decay is followed by twisting about the central C═C double bond and the motion of pyramidalization at the carbon atom of the stator-axle linkage. Although two S0/S1 minimum-energy conical intersections are obtained at the OM2/MRCI level, only one conical intersection is found to be responsible for the nonadiabatic dynamics. The existence of "dark state" in the molecular rotary motor is confirmed through the simulated time-resolved fluorescence emission spectrum. Both quenching and red shift of fluorescence emission spectrum observed by Conyard et al. [ Conyard, J.; Addison, K.; Heisler, I. A.; Cnossen, A.; Browne, W. R.; Feringa, B. L.; Meech, S. R. Nat. Chem. 2012 , 4 , 547 - 551 ; Conyard, J.; Conssen, A.; Browne, W. R.; Feringa, B. L.; Meech, S. R. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014 , 136 , 9692 - 9700 ] are well understood. We find that this "dark state" in the molecular rotary motor is not a new electronic state, but the "dark region" with low oscillator strength on the initial S1 state.

Non-Hermitian surface hopping.

We present a generalized non-Hermitian equation of motion (nH-EOM) to go beyond standard trajectory surface hopping dynamics. The derivation is based on the Born-Huang expansion of the total wave function and the polar representation of the nuclear factor. The nH-EOM contains two additional terms, a skew symmetry term iΓ with dissipation operator Γ to account for decoherence, and a kinetic-energy renormalization term to account for phase shifts, without destroying the invariance to the choice of representation. Numerically, the nH-EOM can still be solved efficiently using a semiclassical approximation in the framework of Tully's fewest-switches surface hopping (FSSH) algorithm. Applications to model Hamiltonians demonstrate improved performance over the standard FSSH approach, through comparison to exact quantum results.

Photodynamics of oxybenzone sunscreen: Nonadiabatic dynamics simulations.

Herein we have used combined static electronic structure calculations and "on-the-fly" global-switching trajectory surface-hopping dynamics simulations to explore the photochemical mechanism of oxybenzone sunscreen. We have first employed the multi-configurational CASSCF method to optimize minima, conical intersections, and minimum-energy reaction paths related to excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) and excited-state decays in the (1)ππ(∗), (1)nπ(∗), and S0 states (energies are refined at the higher MS-CASPT2 level). According to the mapped potential energy profiles, we have identified two ultrafast excited-state deactivation pathways for the initially populated (1)ππ(∗) system. The first is the diabatic ESIPT process along the (1)ππ(∗) potential energy profile. The generated (1)ππ(∗) keto species then decays to the S0 state via the keto (1)ππ(∗)/gs conical intersection. The second is internal conversion to the dark (1)nπ(∗) state near the (1)ππ(∗) /(1)nπ(∗) crossing point in the course of the diabatic (1)ππ(∗) ESIPT process. Our following dynamics simulations have shown that the ESIPT and (1)ππ(∗) → S0 internal conversion times are 104 and 286 fs, respectively. Finally, our present work demonstrates that in addition to the ESIPT process and the (1)ππ(∗) → S0 internal conversion in the keto region, the (1)ππ(∗) → (1)nπ(∗) internal conversion in the enol region plays as well an important role for the excited-state relaxation dynamics of oxybenzone.