Mapping the excited-state potential energy surface of a photomolecular motor

Hall, Christopher R, Browne, Wesley R., Feringa, Ben L. and Meech, Stephen R. (2018) Mapping the excited-state potential energy surface of a photomolecular motor. Angewandte Chemie-International Edition, 57 (21). pp. 6203-6207. ISSN 1433-7851

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Abstract

A detailed understanding of the operation and efficiency of unidirectional photomolecular rotary motors is essential for their effective exploitation in molecular nanomachines. Unidirectional motion relies on light‐driven conversion from a stable (1 a) to a metastable (1 b) conformation, which then relaxes through a thermally driven helix inversion in the ground state. The excited‐state surface has thus far only been experimentally characterised for 1 a. Here we probe the metastable, 1 b, excited state, utilising ultrafast transient absorption and femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy. These reveal that the “dark” excited‐state intermediate between 1 a and 1 b has a different lifetime and structure depending on the initial ground‐state conformation excited. This suggests that the reaction coordinate connecting 1 a to 1 b differs to that for the reverse photochemical process. The result is contrasted with earlier calculations.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	energy conversion,excited states,molecular motors,photochemistry,ultrafast dynamics
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Chemistry (former - to 2024)
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Chemistry of Light and Energy Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Centre for Photonics and Quantum Science
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	10 Apr 2018 15:30
Last Modified:	09 May 2025 23:58
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/66735
DOI:	10.1002/anie.201802126

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