Photophysical properties and photochemistry of EE-, EZ-, and ZZ-1,4-dimethoxy-2,5-bis[2-(thien-2-yl)ethenyl] benzene in solution: theory and experiment.

Photophysical properties and photoisomerization of 1,4-dimethoxy-2,5-bis[2-(thien-2-yl)ethenyl] benzene (DMTB) have been investigated for the EE-, EZ-, and ZZ- stereoisomers. The EE-DMTB was prepared, and the absorption/fluorescence spectra of EE- isomer as well as transient spectra in photoisomerization among three isomers were observed. Absorption and fluorescence spectra of three isomers were analyzed by the symmetry-adapted cluster-configuration interaction (SAC-CI) and time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) methods. The characteristics of the absorption spectra of three isomers were satisfactorily reproduced by the direct SAC-CI and TDDFT methods in both peak position and intensity. The relative stability of three isomers and the photoisomerization among these isomers were also examined theoretically. The ground (S(0)) and first excited state (S(1)) geometries were calculated by the DFT/TDDFT method with the M06HF functional, and the calculated S(0) structures of EE- and ZZ- isomers agreed well with those of the X-ray structures. The geometry relaxation in the S(1) state was interpreted with regard to the excitation character. The solvent effect in the absorption and fluorescence spectra was examined by the polarizable continuum model (PCM) and was found to be 0.05-0.20 eV, reflecting the charge polarization. The results show that the photophysical properties of DMTB can be controlled with the conformation constraint and also indicate the possibility of a photofunctional molecular device such as a switching function.