Excited-State Double Proton Transfer of 1,8-Dihydroxy-2-Naphthaldehyde:a MS-CASPT2//CASSCF Study

Excited-state double proton transfer(ESDPT)is a controversial issue which has long been plagued with theoretical and experimental communities.Herein,we took 1,8-dihydroxy-2-naphthaldehyde(DHNA)as a prototype and used combined complete active space selfconsistent field(CASSCF)and multi-state complete active-space second-order perturbation(MS-CASPT2)methods to investigate ESDPT and excited-state deactivation pathways of DHNA.Three different tautomer minima of S1-ENOL,S1-KETO-1,and S1-KETO-2 and two crucial conical intersections of S1 S0-KETO-1 and S1 S0-KETO-2 in and between the S0 and S1 states were obtained.S1-KETO-1 and S1-KETO-2 should take responsibility for experimentally observing dual-emission bands.In addition,two-dimensional potential energy surfaces(2 D-PESs)and linear interpolated internal coordinate paths connecting relevant structures were calculated at the MS-CASPT2//CASSCF level and confirmed a stepwise ESDPT mechanism.Specifically,the first proton transfer from S1-ENOL to S1-KETO-1 is barrierless,whereas the second one from S1-KETO-1 to S1-KETO-2 demands a barrier of ca.6.0 kcal/mol.The linear interpolated internal coordinate path connecting S1-KETO-1(S1-KETO-2)and S_(1) S0-KETO-1(S1 S0-KETO-2)is uphill with a barrier of ca.12.0 kcal/mol,which will trap DHNA in the S_(1) state while therefore enabling dual-emission bands.On the other hand,the S1/S0 conical intersections would also prompt the S_(1) system to decay to the S_(0) state,which could be to certain extent suppressed by locking the rotation of the C5-C8-C9-O10 dihedral angle.These mechanistic insights are not only helpful for understanding ESDPT but also useful for designing novel molecular materials with excellent photoluminescent performances.