Excited state charge transfer reaction in (mixed solvent + electrolyte) systems: Role of reactant–solvent and reactant–ion interactions

Fluorescence spectroscopic techniques have been used to study the excited state intramolecular charge transfer reaction of 4-(1-azetidinyl)benzonitrile (P4C) in two sets of mixed solvents, (1-propanol + ethyl acetate) and (propylene carbonate + acetonitrile), in the absence and presence of a strong electrolyte, lithium perchlorate. These two sets of mixed solvent systems represent binary solvent mixtures of low and high polarities, respectively. Density, sound velocity and viscosity measurements indicate that these two mixed solvent systems are structurally different. Stronger ion-reactant interaction is evidenced in the mole fraction independence of emission frequencies in electrolyte solutions of low polar binary solvent mixtures. For both these mixtures, the reaction driving force (− ΔGr) decreases with increase in mole fraction of the relatively less polar solvent component of the mixture. Interestingly, − ΔGr increases significantly on addition of electrolyte in low polar mixtures and exhibits mixture composition dependence but, in contrast, − ΔGr in high polar mixtures does not sense variation in mixture composition in presence of electrolyte. This insensitivity to mixture composition for high polar mixtures is also observed for the measured reaction time constant. In addition, the reaction time constant does not sense the presence of electrolyte in the high polar solvent mixtures. The reaction time constant in low polar mixtures, which becomes faster on addition of electrolyte, lengthens on increasing the mole fraction of the relatively less polar solvent component of the mixture. These observations have been qualitatively explained in terms of the measured solvent reorganization energy and reaction driving force by using expressions from the classical theory of electron transfer reaction.