TDDFT Calculations of Electronic Spectra of Benzoxazoles Undergoing Excited State Proton Transfer

Energies and oscillator strengths of vertical transitions for various rotameric and tautomeric species of 2-(2'-hydroxyphenyl)benzoxazole (HBO), 2,5-bis(2-benzoxazolyl)phenol (DBP) and 2,5-bis(2-benzoxazolyl)hydroquinone (BBHQ) have been calculated in the ground and first excited states with the use of TDDFT methods. The TDDFT results demonstrate good correspondence to the frequencies of absorption and fluorescence bands of the benzoxazoles reported for measurements in supersonic jets and solution, but fail to predict relative energies of the enol and keto tautomers of DBP and BBHQ in the excited state. Low intensity of the fluorescence bands attributed to the conformations of HBO and DBP that do not undergo excited state proton transfer is shown to be caused by low concentrations of the conformations in the ground state. For the three compounds large-amplitude twisting of the keto tautomer is found to be one of radiationless processes resulting in decrease of the fluorescence with a large Stokes shift.