Proton Capture Dynamics in Quinoline Photobases: Substituent Effect and Involvement of Triplet States

Converting light into chemical energy often occurs through redox reactions that require transfer of several electrons and protons. Using light to control proton transfer has the potential for driving otherwise unfavorable protonation reactions or producing transient pH changes. Photoacids and photobases are fundamental functional the that could serve this purpose. Previously, we have reported the thermodynamic drive for proton removal in a series of quinoline photobases using Forster cycle analysis of the singlet states. Because the existence of thermodynamic drive does not imply that the molecules can indeed capture protons in the excited state, in this work we report the kinetics of proton removal from water by S-R-quinolines, R = {NH2, OCH3, H, Cl, Br, CN}, using ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy. We found that the time constants and mechanisms of proton capture from water are highly sensitive to the substituent. In some cases, proton transfer occurs within the singlet manifold, whereas in some others intersystem crossing competes with this process. We have evidence that the triplet states are also capable of proton capture in two of the compounds. This renders the excited state proton transfer process more complicated than can be captured by the linear free energy relationships inferred from the energetics of the singlet states. We have measured proton capture times in this family to be in the range of several tens of picoseconds with no discernible trend with respect to the Hammett parameter of the substituents. This wide range of mechanisms is attributed to the high density of excited electronic states in the singlet and triplet manifolds. The ordering between these states is expected to change by substituent, solvent, and hydrogen bonding, thus making the rate of intersystem crossing and proton transfer very sensitive to these parameters. These results are necessary fundamental steps to assess the capabilities of photobases in prospective applications such as photomediated proton removal in redox reactions, steady state optical regulation of local pH, and pOH jump kinetics experiments.