Laser flash photolysis studies of the photo-ring-opening reaction of flav-3-en-2-ol

Electronic structure and photodynamics of flav-3-en-2-ol have been studied by steady-state and time-resolved absorption measurements, and by semi-empirical MO calculations. The photo-ring-opening reaction to produce 2-hydroxychalcone has been determined to be a monophotonic process with the quantum yield of 0.29. The precursor to 2-hydroxychalcone has been assigned to the ground-state enol-form by nanosecond laser flash photolysis study at room temperature and steady-state photolysis study at 77 K. The efficiency of the tautomerization from the ground-state enol-form to keto-form of 2-hydroxychalcone has been estimated to be unity. The enol-form is transformed into 2-hydroxychalcone with the rate constant of 3.2x10(4) s(-1) in neat acetonitrile, and this process is accelerated by protic molecules. The PM3 calculation of flav-3-en-2-ol showed that the dissociative potential surface in the first excited singlet-state is responsible for the ring-opening reaction.