Dissociation of a Strong Acid in Neat Solvents: Diffusion Is Observed after Reversible Proton Ejection Inside the Solvent Shell

Strong-acid dissociation was studied in alcohols. Optical excitation of the cationic photoacid <i>N</i>-methyl-6-hydroxyquinolinium triggers proton transfer to the solvent, which was probed by spectral reconstruction of picosecond fluorescence traces. The process fulfills the classical Eigen–Weller mechanism in two stages: (a) solvent-controlled reversible dissociation inside the solvent shell and (b) barrierless splitting of the encounter complex. This can be appreciated only when fluorescence band integrals are used to monitor the time evolution of the reactant and product concentrations. Band integrals are insensitive to solvent dynamics and report relative concentrations directly. This was demonstrated by first measuring the fluorescence decay of the conjugate base across the full emission band, independently of the proton-transfer reaction. Multiexponential decay curves at single wavelengths result from a dynamic red shift of fluorescence in the course of solvent relaxation, whereas clean single exponential decays are obtained if the band integral is monitored instead. The extent of the shift is consistent with previously reported femtosecond transient absorption measurements, continuum theory of solvatochromism, and molecular properties derived from quantum chemical calculations. In turn, band integrals show clean biexponential decay of the photoacid and triexponential evolution of the conjugate base in the course of the proton transfer to solvent reaction. The dissociation step follows the slowest stage of solvation, which was measured here independently by picosecond fluorescence spectroscopy in five aliphatic alcohols. Also, the rate constant of the encounter-complex splitting stage is compatible with proton diffusion. Thus, for this photoacid, both stages reach the highest possible rates: solvation and diffusion control. Under these conditions, the concentration of the encounter complex is substantial during the earliest nanosecond