Time-resolved Anisotropy Study on the Excited-State Intramolecular Proton Transfer of 1-Hydroxyanthraquinone

The photodynamics of excited-state intramolecular proton transfer reaction of 1-hydroxyanthraquinone (1-HAQ) and 1-deuterioanthraquinone was investigated in toluene with time-resolved emission and femtosecond transient transmittance techniques at room temperature. The temporal profiles of transient transmittance of 1-HAQ could be well described with multi-decaying time constants. The ultrafast time constant within ca. 260 fs reflects the dynamics of proton transfer. The decay component of 2 ps is assigned to an additional proton translocation process induced by the intramolecular vibrational relaxation, whereas the decay component of 18 ps is assigned to the vibrational cooling process, while the long component (200 ps) can be explained in terms of the relaxation from excited-state keto-tautomer to its ground state. Time-resolved anisotropy decay dynamics and isotope effects on the photodynamics reveals that the ESIPT from enol-tautomer to keto-one of 1-HAQ is barrierless reaction and coupled to a vibrational relaxation process