Between ethylene and polyenes - the non-adiabatic dynamics of cis-dienes

Using Ab Initio Multiple Spawning (AIMS) with a Multi-State Multi-Reference Perturbation theory (MS-MR-CASPT2) treatment of the electronic structure, we have simulated the non-adiabatic excited state dynamics of cyclopentadiene (CPD) and 1,2,3,4-tetramethyl-cyclopentadiene (Me-4-CPD) following excitation to S-1. It is observed that torsion around the carbon-carbon double bonds is essential in reaching a conical intersection seam connecting S-1 and S-0. We identify two timescales; the induction time from excitation to the onset of population transfer back to S-0 (CPD: similar to 25 fs, Me-4-CPD: similar to 71 fs) and the half-life of the subsequent population transfer (CPD: similar to 28 fs, Me-4-CPD: similar to 48 fs). The longer timescales for Me4-CPD are a kinematic consequence of the inertia of the substituents impeding the essential out-of-plane motion that leads to the conical intersection seam. A bifurcation is observed on S1 leading to population transfer being attributable, in a 5 : 2 ratio for CPD and 7 : 2 ratio for Me-4-CPD, to two closely related conical intersections. Calculated time-resolved photoelectron spectra are in excellent agreement with experimental spectra validating the simulation results.