Photophysical processes involved within the anisole-thioindoxyl dyad system.

The photophysical properties and the nature of the photoinduced electron transfer (PET) reactions within a synthesized anisole (A)-thioindoxyl (T) dyad system (24MBTO) have been studied by electrochemical, steady-state, and time-resolved spectroscopic techniques. Computations on the dyad were performed both in gas phase as well as solvent environment by TD-DFT method with B3LYP density function. The geometry optimization calculation of 24MBTO was done by 6-311G(d,p) basis function set implemented in the Gaussian package. The theoretical values of singlet vertical excitation energies were found to correlate well with the experimentally observed ones. The electrochemical measurements indicate the possibility of occurrence of PET reactions within 24MBTO between the linked redox centers A and T. Both steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopic measurements on the novel synthesized 24MBTO dyad demonstrate the formations of the two types of isomeric species: Z- and E- forms, resulted from the charge separation reactions. From the detailed studies it reveals that the present thioaurone may behave as a versatile photoswitchable system. It has been hinted that the loss process (charge recombination) within 24MBTO could possibly be prevented by incorporating it within the hydrophobic cavity of beta-cyclodextrin (betaCD).