Thermal and environmental effects on Oligothiophene low-energy singlet electronic excitations in dilute solution: a theoretical and experimental study

The absorption spectra in dilute dichloromethane solution at 300 K of four Oligotiophenes (OT), namely 2,2': 5',2 ''-Terthiophene, 2,2': 5',2 '': 5 '',2'''-Quaterthiophene, 4,4'''-Didodecyl-2,2': 5',2 '': 5 '',2'''-quaterthiophene and 5, 5'''''-Dihexyl-2,2': 5',2 '': 5 '',2''': 5''',2''''': 5'''',2'''''-sexithiophene, have been studied both experimentally and theoretically by using a combination of molecular dynamics simulations, time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) and perturbed matrix method calculations. A deep analysis of the theoretical results, affected by a systematic although not dramatic underestimation of the absorption maxima due to the well-documented TD-DFT limitations, clearly indicates that both the environmental (solvent) and thermal effects significantly alter the Oligotiophenes photophysical properties mainly because of the wide repertoire of the S-0-S-1 energy gaps and electronic densities experienced in solution by the different conformers actually populated. In particular, all the investigated OT display a very high flexibility resulting in a very high repertoire of sampled conformations. The comparison of the calculated and experimental lineshape of the S-0-S-1 electronic transition has clearly indicated that for a correct modeling of OT spectral features, the lack of an exhaustive sampling of semiclassical configurational space of the overall system, i.e., solute in interaction with the solvent, might result in an incomplete picture even in the presence of well-documented important aspects such as reliable definition of excited electronic states and the inclusion of quantum vibronic effects