Modulation of lifetimes and diastereomeric discrimination in triplet-excited substituted butane-1,4-diones through intramolecular charge-transfer quenching

Triplet lifetimes have been determined for the diastereomers of a broad set of butane-1,4-dione derivatives (1-3). A remarkable dependence of lifetimes on conformational preferences is revealed in that the lifetimes are shorter for the meso diastereomers of 1-3 than those for the racemic ones. The intramolecular β-phenyl quenching is promoted in the case of meso diastereomers by virtue of the gauche relationship between the excited carbonyl group and the β-aryl ring, while a distal arrangement in the lowest energy conformation (H-anti) in racemic diastereomers prevents such a deactivation. The involvement of charge transfer in the intramolecular β-phenyl quenching is suggested by the correlation of the triplet lifetimes of the meso diastereomers of compounds 2 with the nature of the substituent on the β-phenyl rings. In the case of racemic diastereomers, p-methoxy substitution on the β -phenyl ring (2-OCH3, 3-OCH3) also led to a decrease of the triplet lifetimes when compared to those of the nonsubstituted compounds (2-H, 3-H). This shortening is accounted for by the deactivation of a small proportion of the excited molecules through β-phenyl quenching. In addition to the above factors, the lifetimes in the case of meso diastereomers can further be controlled by increasing the energy spacing between the T1 and T2 states, since β-phenyl quenching occurs from the latter for compounds 2 and 3. Through a rational conformational control, a surprisingly long triplet lifetime (300 ns) has been measured for the first time for a purely n,π* triplet-excited β-phenylpropiophenone dimer (1-rac)