• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.1706-1710
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• 2005

The excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) fluorescence in the 2-(2'-hydroxyphenyl)benzoxazole (HBO) derivatives with different electron donor and acceptor substituents was studied by spectroscopic and theoretical methods. Changes in the electronic transition, energy levels, and orbital diagrams of HBO analogues were investigated by the semi-empirical molecular orbital calculation and were correlated with the experimental spectral position of ESIPT keto emission. It was found that the presence of substituents, regardless of their nature, resulted in the red-shifted absorption relative to HBO. However, the spectral change of the ESIPT fluorescence was differently affected by the nature of substituent: hypsochromic shift with electron donor and bathochromic shift with electron acceptor.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.465-469
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• 2013

Proton transfer reaction is one of the most fundamental processes in chemistry and life science. Excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) has been studied as a model system of the proton transfer, since it can be conveniently initiated by light. We report ESIPT reaction dynamic of 1-hydroxy-anthraquione (1-HAQ) in solution by highly time-resolved fluorescence. ESIPT time of 1-HAQ is determined to be $45{\pm}10$ fs directly from decay of the reactant fluorescence and rise of the product fluorescence. High time resolution allows observation of the coherent vibrational wave packet motion in the excited state of the reaction product tautomer. The coherently excited vibrational mode involves large displacement of the atoms, which shortens the distance between the proton donor and the acceptor. With the theoretical analysis, we propose that the ESIPT of 1-HAQ proceeds barrierlessly with assistance of the skeletal vibration, which in turn becomes excited coherently by the ESIPT reaction.

• Proceedings of the Polymer Society of Korea Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.35-36
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• 2006

Excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) is a phototautomerization occurring in the excited states of the molecules possessing a cyclic intramolecular or solvent-bridged hydrogen bond. Recently, we have developed novel ESIPT chromophores, molecules, dendrimers and polymers which show very high fluorescence quantum efficiency combined with the characteristic features of optical switching, fluorescence patterining, lasing, and electroluminescence. Broad overview of these topics will be given in this talk.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.881-885
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• 2014

Photophysics of 10-hydroxybenzo[h]quinoline (HBQ) has been in controversy, in particular, on the nature of the electronic states before and after the excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT), even though the dynamics and mechanism of the ESIPT have been well established. We report highly time resolved fluorescence spectra over the full emission frequency regions of the enol and keto isomers and the anisotropy in time domain to determine the accurate rates of the population decay, spectral relaxation and anisotropy decay of the keto isomer. We have shown that the ~300 fs component observed frequently in ESIPT dynamics arises from the $S_2{\rightarrow}S_1$ internal conversion in the reaction product keto isomer and that the ESIPT occurs from the enol isomer in $S_1$ state to the keto isomer in $S_2$ state.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.828-832
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• 2014

The spectroscopic properties of quercetin (QCT) were studied in the AOT reverse micelle by fluorescence spectroscopy. Because the molecular structure of QCT is completely planar, excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) occurs between the -OH at C(5) and carbonyl oxygen via intramolecular hydrogen bonding. This ESIPT happens at the $S_1$ state but not at the $S_2$ state. Because QCT is a good donor-acceptor-conjugated molecule at the excited state, this molecule can emit strong fluorescence but shows no $S_1{\rightarrow}S_o$ emission due to this ESIPT. Since the $S_2{\rightarrow}S_1$ internal conversion was very slow due to the small Franck-Condon factors, $S_2{\rightarrow}S_o$ fluorescence emission was observed. All of the experimental results indicated that the QCT resided at the bound water interface and that the position of solute did not change significantly in the micelle at various water concentrations.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.980-985
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• 1998

The excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) emission has been observed for 0.01 mM p-aminosalicylic acid (AS) in nonpolar aprotic solvents as demonstrated by the large Stokes' shifted fluorescence emission around 440 nm in addition to the normal emission at 330 nm. However in aprotic polar solvent such as acetonitrile, the large Stokes' shifted emission band becomes broadened, indicating existence of another emission band originated from intramolecular charge transfer (ICT). It is noteworthy that in protic solvents such as methanol and ethanol the normal and ICT emissions are quenched as the AS concentration decreases, followed by the appearance of new emission at 380 nm. These results are interpreted in terms of ESIPT coupled charge transfer in AS. Being consistent with these steady-state spectroscopic results, the picosecond time-resolved fluorescence study unravelled the decay dynamics of the ESIPT and ICT state ca. 300 ps and ca. 150 ps, respectively with ca. 40 ps for the relaxation time to form the ICT state.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.385-395
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• 2008

Synthesis and properties of novel excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) materials, recently developed in our group, are described. Highly efficient ESIPT reaction, achieved in polyquinolines, polybenzoxazoles, and oxadiazole and imidazole derivatives possessing an intramolecular tautomerizable hydrogen bond, has been investigated theoretically and experimentally. It is demonstrated that unique properties arising from the ESIPT process (large Stokes' shift, no self-absorption, and easy population inversion, etc.) make it possible to produce advanced polymer devices for lasing, optical storage, and electroluminescence.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.211-220
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• 2013

The characteristic fluorescence properties of quercetin (QCT) and apigenin (API) were studied in various $CH_3OH-H_2O$ and $CH_3CN-H_2O$ mixed solvents. The structure of QCT is completely planar. API is not planar at the ground state but becomes nearly planar at the excited state. If the molecules are excited to the $S_1$ state in organic solvents, QCT exhibits no fluorescence due to excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) between the -OH and the carbonyl oxygen, but API shows significant fluorescence because ESIPT occurs slowly. If the molecules are excited to the $S_2$ state, both QCT and API exhibit strong $S_2{\rightarrow}S_o$ emission without any dual fluorescence. As the $H_2O$ composition of both solvents increases, the fluorescence intensity decreases rapidly due to the intermolecular hydrogen bonding interaction. The theoretical calculation further supports these results. The change in fluorescence properties as a function of the solvatochromic parameters was also studied.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.13-18
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• 1995

The steady-state emission spectra of dicoumarol (DC) in ethanol and EPA have been examined at various temperatures (77-298 K). At room temperature, a fluorescence spectrum of DC in ethanol shows a emission maximum at 350 nm. In EPA a Stokes-shifted emission band appears around 470 nm in addition to the 350 nm emission, and its intensity is enhanced as temperature decreases. This emission is attributed to a zwitterionic tautomer of DC formed by a single excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) along the internal hydrogen-bonding. The fluorescence lifetimes have been measured at 350 and 450 nm as a function of temperature. The fluorescence decay at 350 nm is single exponential at any temperature, whereas the one at 450 nm becomes biexponential at temperatures below 250 K. These results are discussed in terms of a conformational change followed by the ESIPT. The activation energy barrier for the conformational change has been determined to be 3.7 $\pm$ 0.2 kJ/mole.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.2343-2353
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• 2007

We report the application of time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) to the calculation of potential energy profile relevant to the excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) processes in title molecules. The TDDFT single point energy calculations along the reaction path have been performed using the CIS optimized structure in the excited state. In addition to the Stokes shifts, the transition energies including absorption, fluorescence, and 0-0 transition are estimated from the TDDFT potential energy profiles along the proton transfer coordinate. The excited state TDDFT potential energy profile of SA and 3ASA resulted in very flat function of the OH distance in the range ROH = 1.0-1.6 A, in contrast to the relatively deep single minimum function in the ground state. Furthermore, we obtained very shallow double minima in the excited state potential energy profile of SA and 3ASA in contrast to the single minimum observed in the previous work. The change of potential energy profile along the reaction path induced by the substitution of electron donating groups (-NH2 and -OCH3) at different sites has been investigated. Substitution at para position with respect to the phenolic OH group showed strong suppression of excited state proton dislocation compared with unsubstitued SA, while substitution at ortho position hardly affected the shape of the ESIPT curve. The TDDFT results are discussed in comparison with those of CASPT2 method.