Charge transfer and van der Waals states of jet-cooled dialkylaniline complexes with anthracene

Abstract

We report here a study of the influence of a physical parameter (i.e. the ionization energy of different donor aromatic molecules) on the spectroscopic and dynamic properties of a series of molecular complexes A-D (A acceptor, D donor) where A is the anthracene molecule and D is one of the following dialkylanilines: dimethyl, diethyl, dipropyl or dibutyl. All complexes exhibit the same spectroscopic behavior already observed for dimethylaniline and diethylaniline cases and tentatively explained by the existence of two isomeric forms for each complex. Decay times and the broad band maximum frequency shifts for the exciplex-like emission type are experiencing a continuous variation in agreement with the change of the ionization energy of the donors. This is confirmed by calculations done using a very simple model based on the interactions between the diabatic A*D and A⁻D⁺ states of the complexes. This agreement is in favor of the initial assumption, that most physical parameters (complexation geometry, coupling between the diabatic states) are only weakly perturbed when changing the donor molecule and this despite an expected increased steric hindrance.