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Abstract

Many photoactive biomolecules are anions and exhibit ππ* optical transitions but with a degree of charge transfer (CT) character determined by the local environment. The phenolate moiety is a common structural motif among biochromophores and luminophores, and nitrophenolates are good model systems because the nitro substituent allows for CT-like transitions. Here we report gas-phase absorption spectra of o- and p-nitrophenolate·H₂O complexes to decipher the effect of just one H₂O and compare them with ab initio calculations of vertical excitation energies. The experimental band maximum is at 3.01 and 3.00 eV for ortho and para isomers, respectively, and is red-shifted by 0.10 and 0.13 eV relative to the bare ions, respectively. These shifts indicate that the transition has become more CT-like because of localization of negative charge on the phenolate oxygen, i.e., diminished delocalization of the negative excess charge. However, the transition bears less CT than that of m-nitrophenolate·H₂O because this complex absorbs further to the red (2.56 eV). Our work emphasizes the importance of local perturbations: one water causes a larger shift than experienced in bulk for para isomer and almost the full shift for ortho isomer. Predicting microenvironmental effects in the boundary between CT and non-CT with high accuracy is nontrivial. However, in agreement with experiment, our calculations show a competition between the effects of electronic delocalization and electrostatic interaction with the solvent molecule. As a result, the excitation energy of ortho and para isomers is less sensitive to hydration than that of the meta isomer because donor and acceptor orbitals are only weakly coupled in the meta isomer.