A rigorous nonorthogonal configuration interaction approach for the calculation of electronic couplings between diabatic states applied to singlet fission

For the design of efficient singlet fission chromophores, knowledge of the factors that govern the singlet fission rate is important. This rate is approximately proportional to the electronic coupling between the lowest (diabatic) spin singlet state that is populated following photoexcitation state and a so-called (TT)-T-1 state. The latter state is characterised by two triplets, each localised on one of two neighbouring molecules, which are coupled into a singlet. Here, we show the applicability of a nonorthogonal configuration interaction approach for the calculation of this electronic coupling. The advantages of this rigorous approach are that (1) the coupling can be calculated directly, (2) it includes important correlation and orbital relaxation effects, and (3) it has a clear chemical interpretation in terms of molecular states. This approach is applied to calculate the electronic coupling for a biradicaloid molecule, viz, the bis(inner salt) of 2,5-dihydroxy-1,4-dimethyl-pyrazinium. The biradicaloid molecule is, based on the energetic criteria, a promising candidate for singlet fission. We show that the electronic coupling between the molecules is also sufficiently large for singlet fission, rendering molecules based on this chemical moiety interesting singlet fission chromophores. (C) 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.