Ultrafast intermolecular electron transfer dynamics: perylene in electron-accepting micellar medium

Abstract

The dynamics of ultrafast photoinduced intermolecular electron transfer (ET) from the excited singlet (S₁) state of perylene (Pe) to an electron-accepting cationic surfactant molecule, N-cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC), in aqueous micellar solutions has been investigated using the femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopic technique with temporal resolution of 120 fs. The Pe molecule is localized at or near the micellar surface, where it coexists with the pyridinium moieties (headgroups of the micelle) of the surfactant molecule. Following photoexcitation of Pe, an electron is transferred to the neat and geometrically restricted headgroup of the micelle. Dynamics of the forward ET process as well as the geminate recombination or back ET (BET) process have been followed by monitoring the temporal evolution of the S₁ state of Pe and the cation radical of Pe (Pe^·+), respectively. The multiexponential forward ET process indicates that the ET dynamics is highly correlated with the spatial distributions of the micellar headgroups around a donor Pe molecule and thus dependent on the donor-acceptor distance. The distance-dependent ET and BET rates have been calculated following the method of Weidemaier and Fayer (J. Chem. Phys. 1995, 102, 3820) to get the best fit parameters for the multiexponetial temporal profiles for the S₁ state of Pe as well as Pe^·+. Because the acceptor is a constituent of the neat micellar medium, their confinement on the surface of the microheterogeneous medium provides a very large concentration such that, even though the forward transfer rate is 0.06 ps^-1 at the distance of closest approach, the ET process is complete within a 200-ps time domain. If the concepts of distribution of ET distances are utilized, the possible role of material diffusion on the kinetics of forward ET is ruled out. This is an experimental study to show, for the first time, the ultrafast distance-dependent light-induced ET dynamics following both the excited state of the donor and the cation radical formed in an ET process using the transient absorption spectroscopic technique in a self-reactive restrictive environment.