Time-dependent density functional theory investigation of the ground and excited states of coumarins 102, 152, 153, and 343

We present calculations of various properties of the ground and excited electronic states of coumarins 102, 152, 153, and 343. Using density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT), we examine the excitation energies to the S-1 and S-2 states, the ground and excited-state dipole moments, and the lowest ionization potentials of these coumarins. In the case of C153, we locate two distinct So minima due to differing conformations of the julolidyl ring structure and compare properties for the syn and anti conformers. For C343, we examine the possibility of proton transfers in the ground and S-1 states of the system. We find that (1) DFT tends to overestimate the ground-state dipole moments in these systems, (2) excellent agreement is obtained between TDDFT and experimental vertical excitation energies, (3) TDDFT and CIS yield similar estimates of the dipole moment change between the S-0 and S-1 states, both of which are in the range of previous experimental estimates, (4) in each case, the S-2 state is at least 0.5 eV above the S-1 state for the ground-state geometry, and (5) proton transfer is not likely in the ground state of C343 but is only 0.18 eV higher in energy in the S-1 state. We also compare the DFIF/TDDFT results with RHF/CIS, MP2, and INDO S/CI results. We find good agreement between MP2 and experimental ground-state dipole moments and good agreement between INDO S/CI and TDDFT gas-phase excitation energies.