Masayasu Muramatsu

Ultrafast solvation dynamics in room temperature ionic liquids observed by three-pulse photon echo peak shift measurements.

Three-pulse photon echo peak shift (3PEPS) measurement was applied to the investigation of the primary part (<100 ps) of the solvation dynamics in a series of imidazolium ionic liquids (IL) with an organic dye, oxazine 4 (Ox4), utilized as a probe. The ultrafast solvent response in the range of ≤300 fs exhibited dependence on the square root of the anion mass, indicating its relation with the inertial motion of anion. The inertial response of ILs with chloride anion was the fastest among other ILs with heavier and larger anions. Because Ox4 is a cationic dye, it holds a stronger interaction with the anion of IL, thus the ultrafast part of the solvation is strongly affected by the inertial motion of anions. The second solvation component in the range of ≤3.5 ps had better correlation with the reduced mass and the size of both ions included, indicating the beginning of a more global solvation process.

Constraint-induced structural deformation of planarized triphenylboranes in the excited state

Triphenylboranes planarized with three methylene bridges exhibited dual fluorescence bands around 340 and 400 nm despite their structural constraint. To elucidate the origin, their excited state dynamics were experimentally and theoretically studied. The measurements of fluorescence lifetimes and transient absorption spectra indicated that the planarized triphenylboranes adopt two local minimum structures in the lowest-energy excited singlet (S1) state. The TD-DFT potential energy surface of the S1 state possesses at least two minimum energy structures associated with a planar and a bowl-shaped molecular structure. The theoretical S1–S0 transition energies at these geometries were in good agreement with the experimentally observed values. These results indicated that the plane-to-bowl structural relaxation in the S1 state is the origin of the dual fluorescence. Based on the calculated partial atomic charge on the boron atom, the structural deformation to the bowl-shaped structure results in an increase in the electron density on the boron center. Thus, the enhanced intramolecular charge-transfer character plays a role in this structural deformation. Similar behavior was also observed for trigonally π-expanded planarized borane derivatives. These results provide an important implication that structural constraint in a planar fashion is not only a strategy to construct a rigid skeleton, but also a viable mechanism to impart flexibility to the skeleton.

Two-photon actuation of crosslinked liquid-crystalline polymers utilizing energy transfer system

ABSTRACT We prepared crosslinked azotolane liquid-crystalline polymer (LCP) films doped with a stilbene derivative (two-photon chromophore) utilizing an interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) structure. The IPN films bend toward the light source upon irradiation with femtosecond laser pulses at 600 nm, which can excite the stilbene derivative by two-photon absorption. The bending speed of the IPN films increases with the square of the laser pulse intensity, which is compelling evidence for the two-photon processes.