THEORETICAL STUDY OF PHOTO-PHYSICAL PROCESSES IN 2-ARYL SUBSTITUTED INDOLES
Ab initio method is used to figure out the structures and photo-physical processes of 2-aryl substituted indoles, 2-phenylindole (2PI), 2-naphthylindole (2NI), and 2-anthracenylindole (2AI), synthesized experimentally with strong fluorescence. The results show that the photoabsorption and fluorescence measured experimentally correspond to the monovalent anions deprotonated in the indole NH end, other than the neutral compounds. During the photochemical reaction, the angles between the planes of the indole and 2-aryl substituted moieties keep unchanged, but the photo-induced intramolecular charge transfer can immediately occur in the anions. Furthermore, the photo-physical processes after photoexcitation are analyzed by using a linear reaction coordinate.