Relaxation of the excited N-(2-hydroxy benzylidene) aniline molecule: An ab initio and TD DFT study

The photophysical behaviour of N-(2-hydroxy benzylidene) aniline or most commonly known as salicylideneaniline (SA) has been investigated using the ab initio and DFT levels of theory. The quantum chemical calculations show that the optimized non planar enol (C-1) form of the SA molecule is the most stable conformer in the ground state and is marked by the twisting of the phenolic and anilino rings of the molecule. The geometry optimizations and the subsequent frequency calculations of the excited singlet electronic states of the various tautomeric forms of SA molecule were performed with the CIS level of theory. A detail theoretical investigation on the relaxation dynamics of the SA molecule has been presented. Possible explanation on the excitation wavelength dependence of the photochromic yield of the molecule is also reported.