Hitoshi Fukui

Size dependences of the diradical character and the second hyperpolarizabilities in dicyclopenta-fused acenes: relationships with their aromaticity/antiaromaticity

Using long-range corrected density functional theory, the relationships between the electronic, magnetic, and nonlinear optical properties are drawn for two families of organic compounds, the dicyclopenta-fused acenes (DPAs) and the polyacenes (PAs), containing up to N = 12 fused rings. First, the longitudinal second hyperpolarizability (γ) of singlet DPAs is significantly enhanced with increasing system size, in comparison to PAs. This behavior is associated with an increase in the longitudinal spin polarization between the terminal five-membered rings of DPAs and is consistent with previous studies where γ is maximized for intermediate diradical character. The size dependence of the diradical character is also found to cause a hump in the γ/N evolution for singlet DPAs around N = 8. In fact, in the case of singlet PAs, the diradical characters y(0) and y(1), the various magnetic properties and the γ/N values vary monotonically with N, whereas for singlet DPAs, the shielding, the magnetizability, and the γ/N values exhibit extrema near N = 8 due to the appearance of transversal spin polarization in the middle six-membered rings in addition to the longitudinal spin polarization between the terminal five-membered rings. Moreover, it is shown that for singlet DPAs the longitudinal spin polarization (characterized by y(0)) is associated with the antiaromaticity (N ≤ 3) and the slight- or non-aromaticity (N ≥ 4) of the terminal five-membered rings, whereas the appearance of transversal spin-polarization (characterized by y(1)) is associated with the decrease in the aromaticity in the inner six-membered rings as shown for large PAs. Therefore, the exceptional behaviors in singlet DPAs for small N (N < 9) are caused by the increase in diradical character y(0) correlated with the anti-aromaticity or the slight-/non-aromaticity of terminal rings and the corresponding emergence of a global aromatic character. Such a relationship between the aromaticity/antiaromaticity and the diradical character is useful for designing real open-shell NLO molecules through the control of their diradical characters.

Open-Shell Characters and Second Hyperpolarizabilities of One-Dimensional Graphene Nanoflakes Composed of Trigonal Graphene Units

The impact of topology on the open-shell characters and the second hyperpolarizabilities (γ) has been addressed for one-dimensional graphene nanoflakes (GNFs) composed of the smallest trigonal graphene (phenalenyl) units. The main results are: 1) These GNFs show not only diradical but also multiradical characters when increasing the number of linked units. 2) GNFs composed of an equivalent number of units can exhibit a wide range of open-shell characters-from nearly closed-shell to pure multiradical characters-depending on the linking pattern of the trigonal units. 3) This wide variation in open-shell characters is explained by their resonance structures and/or by their (HOMO-i)-(LUMO+i) gaps deduced from the orbital correlations. 4) The change in the linking structure of the units can effectively control their open-shell characters as well as their γ values, of which the longitudinal components are significantly enhanced for the singlet GNFs having intermediate open-shell characters. 5) Singlet alternately linked (AL) systems present intermediate multiradical characters even in the case of a large number of units, which creates a significant enhancement of γ with increasing the size, whereas nonalternately linked (NAL) systems, which present pure multiradical characters, possess much smaller γ values. Finally 6) by switching from the singlet to the highest spin states, the γ values of NAL systems hardly change, whereas those of AL systems exhibit large reductions. These fascinating structure-property relationships between the topology of the GNFs, their open-shell characters, and their γ values not only deepen the understanding of open-shell characters of GNFs but aim also at stimulating further design studies to achieve giant NLO responses based on open-shell graphene-like materials.

Theoretical Study on Second Hyperpolarizabilities of Singlet Diradical Square Planar Nickel Complexes Involving o-Semiquinonato Type Ligands

Hybrid density functional theory method is applied for investigating the diradical character dependence of the second hyperpolarizability (gamma) of square planar nickel complexes involving several types of bidentate ligands [o-C6H4XY, where X = Y = O, NH, S, Se, and PH as well as (X, Y) = (NH, NH2) and (S, NH2)]. It is found that, as a function of the donor atoms, the diradical character of these complexes varies from 0.0 to 0.884 and is associated with substantial variations of gamma ranging from 14 x 10(3) to 819 x 10(3) au. In particular, the largest gamma values are associated with intermediate diradical characters in good agreement with the structure-property relationship obtained for pure hydrocarbon systems. Increasing the electronegativity of the X and Y donor groups of the ligands leads to larger diradical characters as a result of the enhancement of the double bond nature of the C=X(Y) bonds, which further stabilizes the diradicals on both-end benzene rings. This demonstrates that the electronegativities of the donor atoms of the ligands become a tuning parameter of the diradical character and then of the gamma values of these complexes.

Halide Ion Complexes of Decaborane (B10H14) and Their Derivatives: Noncovalent Charge Transfer Effect on Second-Order Nonlinear Optical Properties

Quantum molecular engineering has been performed to determine the second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) properties in different halo complexes of decaborane (B(10)H(14)) and their derivatives using the density functional theory (DFT) method. These decaborane halo complexes of X(-)@B(10)H(14) (X = F, Cl, Br, and I) are found to possess noncovalent charge transfer interactions. The static polarizability (α(0)) and first hyperpolarizability (β(0)) among these complexes increase by moving down the group from F to I, partly due to the increase in size of their anionic radii and the decrease in their electron affinities. A two-level approximation has been employed to investigate the origin of β(0) values in these halo complexes, which show very consistent results with those by the finite-field method. Furthermore, in the same line, two experimentally existing complexes, I(-)@B(10)H(14) and I(-)@2,4-I(2)B(10)H(12), are found to have considerably large β(0) values of 2859 and 3092 a.u., respectively, which are about three times larger than a prototypical second-order NLO molecule of p-nitroaniline, as reported by Soscun et al. [Int. J. Quantum Chem.2006, 106, 1130-1137]. Besides this, the special effects of solvent, counterion, and bottom substitutions have also been investigated. Interestingly, 2,4-alkali metal-substituted decaborane iodide complexes show remarkably large second-order NLO response with β(0) amplitude as large as 62436 a.u. for I(-)@2,4-K(2)B(10)H(12) complex, which are explained in terms of their transition energies, frontier molecular orbitals and electron density difference plots. Thus, the present investigation provides several new comparative insights into the second-order NLO properties of halo complexes of decaborane, which possess not only large first hyperpolarizabilities, but also high tunability to get a robustly large second-order NLO response by alkali metal substitution effects.

Full configuration interaction calculations of the second hyperpolarizabilities of the H4 model compound: Summation-over-states analysis and interplay with diradical characters

The second hyperpolarizability (γ) of the one-dimensional H(4) model compound has been calculated at the full configuration interaction level to describe its relationships with the diradical characters y(i) [the occupation numbers of the lowest unoccupied natural orbital (LUNO) + i] and the geometry. It is found that the system with intermediate y(0) ( = 0.527) and small y(1) ( = 0.178) exhibits the largest γ value [enhanced by a factor of 9 compared to that of a nearly closed-shell H(4) analog (y(0) = 0.099, y(1) = 0.029)], where both the outer H-H distances are slightly larger than the inner one. These results provide a molecular design guideline for enhancing and controlling the third-order nonlinear optical properties of singlet multiradical linear molecular systems such as multiradical organic aggregates, supermolecular systems, and extended metal atom chains.

Enhancement of Second Hyperpolarizabilities in Open-Shell Singlet Slipped-Stack Dimers Composed of Square Planar Nickel Complexes Involving o-Semiquinonato Type Ligands

Using the spin-unrestricted hybrid density functional theory method, we have investigated the intermolecular interaction effects on the longitudinal static second hyperpolarizability (γ) of open-shell singlet slipped-stack dimers composed of singlet diradical square planar nickel complexes involving o-semiquinonato type ligands, Ni(o-C(6)H(4)X(2))(2) (where X = O, NH, S, Se, PH). For comparison, we have also examined the γ values of a closed-shell singlet slipped-stack dimer composed of closed-shell monomers Ni[o-C(6)H(4)S(NH(2))](2). It is found that for interplanar distance ranging between 3.0 and 5.0 Å the slipped-stack dimers with intermediate monomer diradical characters exhibit larger γ values per monomer (γ(dimer)/2) than those with large monomer diradical characters or than the closed-shell dimer. These results extend the domain of validity of the relationship found between γ and the diradical character for individual molecules. It also turns out that the ratio R = (γ(dimer)/2)/γ(monomer) increases upon decreasing the interplanar distance and that this increase is larger for intermediate diradical character than for the other cases. These phenomena have been analyzed by considering the γ density distributions of the dimers, demonstrating a significant field-induced third-order charge transfer between the monomers in the case of intermediate diradical character. The present results indicate that open-shell singlet slipped-stack aggregates composed of monomers with intermediate diradical characters constitute another mean for achieving highly efficient and tunable third-order nonlinear optical materials.

Alkyl Substituent Length Dependence of Octaalkylphthalocyanine Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells

Alkyl substituent length dependences of photovoltaic performance of bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) organic solar cells (OSCs) utilizing 1,4,8,11,15,18,22,25-octaalkylphthalocyanine (CnPcH2) mixed in [6,6]-phenyl C71 butyric acid methyl ester have been studied. By shortening the alkyl substituents, stacking of the discotic CnPcH2 columns is probably changed from 2D rectangular lattices to pseudohexagonal structures, and Davydov splitting at the Q-band of CnPcH2 absorbance spectra decreases, which results in the higher hole mobility and the deeper highest occupied molecular orbital energy levels. As a result, the power conversion efficiencies of CnPcH2-based BHJ OSCs are improved from 0.3 to 3.7% by changing the alky substituent length.

Theoretical Study on Exciton Recurrence Motion in Anthracene Dimer Using the Ab Initio MO-CI Based Quantum Master Equation Approach

We apply the ab initio molecular orbital (MO)-configuration interaction (CI) based quantum master equation (MOQME) method to the investigation of ultrafast exciton dynamics in an anthracene dimer modeled after anthracenophane, which is experimentally found to exhibit an oscillatory signal of fluorescence anisotropy decay. Two low-lying near-degenerate one-photon allowed excited states with a slight energy difference (42 cm(-1)) are obtained at the CIS/6-31G** level of approximation using full valence pi-orbitals. The time evolution of reduced exciton density matrices is performed by numerically solving the quantum master equation. After the creation of a superposition state of these near-degenerate states by irradiating a near-resonant laser field, we observe two kinds of oscillatory behaviors of polarizations: field-induced polarizations with faster periods, and amplitude oscillations of x- and z-polarizations, P(x) and P(z), with a slower period, in which the amplitudes of P(x) and P(z) attain maximum alternately. The latter behavior turns out to be associated with an oscillatory exciton motion between the two monomers, i.e., exciton recurrence motion, using the dynamic exciton expression based on the polarization density. From the analysis of contribution to the exciton distributions, such exciton recurrence motion is found to be characterized by both the difference in eigenfrequencies between the two near-degenerate states excited by the laser field and the relative phases among the frontier MOs primarily contributing to the near-degenerate states.

Open-shell character and second hyperpolarizabilities of one-dimensional chromium(II) chains: Size dependence and bond-length alternation effect

Using the long-range corrected spin-unrestricted density functional theory (LC-UBLYP) method, we have investigated the longitudinal third-order nonlinear optical (NLO) properties, i.e., the second hyperpolarizabilities γ of open-shell singlet one-dimensional (1D) extended metal atom chain (EMAC) systems, chromium(II) chains Cr(II)2n (n = 1-4), with different metal-metal bond lengths from the viewpoint of the open-shell character dependences of each d orbital contribution (dσ, dπ, dδ) to γ and of the chain-length dependence of γ. It turns out that the chain length dependences of the open-shell characters of dπ and dδ orbitals at any metal-metal bond length are negligible, while the dσ open-shell character decreases as a function of chain length. The systems display bell-shaped behaviors of γ as a function of the metal-metal bond length, in which the γ values attain maxima for intermediate dσ open-shell character. The maximum γ value (γmax) exhibits remarkable enhancement as a function of chain length. It is also found that the bond length alternation (BLA) significantly affects the γ values and their chain-length dependences. The present results provide the guiding principles for designing transition-metal complexes with open-shell singlet 1D metallic chains exhibiting large third-order optical nonlinearity.

Ambipolar Carrier Mobility in Binary Blend Thin Film of Non-Peripheral Alkylphthalocyanines

Charge carrier mobility in blend films of two types of soluble phthalocyanine derivatives with different substituent length, 1, 4, 8, 11, 15, 18, 22, 25-octapentyl-phthalocyanine (C5PcH2) and 1, 4, 8, 11, 15, 18, 22, 25-octahexyl-phthalocyanine (C6PcH2) has been investigated. The charge carrier mobility was measured by the time-of-flight technique. In the case of C5PcH2 blend ratio below 25 mol%, the high mobility, such as 0.8-1.1 cm2V-1s-1 for hole and 0.6 cm2V-1s-1 for electron, were obtained at room temperature. In the thin films with C5PcH2 above 30 mol%, the charge carrier mobility decreased by one order of magnitude and had the different temperature dependence from that below 25 mol%. The marked change of the charge carrier mobility depending on the blend ratio of phthalocyanine derivatives has been discussed by taking the miscibility and the molecular packing structure into consideration.