Excited State Proton Transfer from Acidic Alcohols to a Quinoline Photobase Can Be Solvated by Non-Acidic Alcohol Solvents.

ABSTRACT: Photobases are a type of molecule that become more basic upon photoexcitation and can therefore be used to control proton transfer reactions with light. The solvation requirements for excited state proton transfer (ESPT) in photobase systems is poorly understood, which limits their applicability. Here, we investigate the solvation of the ESPT reaction using 5-methoxyquinoline (MeOQ), a well-studied photobase with an excited state pK_a (pK_a^*) of approximately 15.1, as a model system. Previous studies have shown that, in addition to the acidic donor that donates a proton to the photoexcited MeOQ, an additional "auxiliary donor" is necessary to solvate the resulting alkoxide. We investigate whether a nonacidic hydrogen bond donor (an alcohol solve

SUBMITTER: Hunt JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11299183 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature