Photophysics of phenalenone: quantum-mechanical investigation of singlet-triplet intersystem crossing

We have examined the electronic and molecular structure of 1H-phenalen-1-one ( phenalenone) in the electronic ground state and in the lowest excited states, as well as intersystem crossing. The electronic structure was calculated using a combination of density functional theory and multi-reference configuration interaction. Intersystem crossing rates were determined using Fermi's golden rule and taking direct and vibronic spin-orbit coupling into account. The required spin-orbit matrix elements were obtained applying a non-empirical spin-orbit mean-field approximation. Our calculated electronic energies are in good agreement with experimental data. We find the lowest excited singlet states to be of the n pi* (S(1)) and pi pi* (S(2)) type. Energetically accessible from S1 are two triplet states of the pi pi* (T(1)) and n pi* (T(2)) type, the latter being nearly degenerate to S1. This ordering of states is retained when the molecular structure in the electronically excited states is relaxed. We expect very efficient intersystem crossing between S1 and T(1). Our calculated intersystem crossing rate is approximate to 2 x 10(10) s(-1), which is in excellent agreement with the experimental value of 3.45 x 10(10) s(-1). Our estimated phosphorescence and fluorescence rates are many orders of magnitude smaller. Our results are in agreement with the experimentally observed behavior of phenalenone, including the high efficiency of (1)O(2) production.