Metal complexes have unique properties and play important roles in various chemical/biological systems and applications. However, the primary photochemical process of the metal complexes has not been well understood because their excited-state dynamics is very fast and complicated. One of the key photochemical properties of metal complexes is the photo-induced structural change, and the relevant knowledge is indispensable to understand the properties of metal complexes. Furthermore, it is of fundamental importance to elucidate how the initial nuclear motion is correlated to the large structural change because the relation between the initial nuclear motion and reaction is a central issue. We studied the ultrafast structural change of prototypical copper and gold complexes with femtosecond spectroscopy using optical pulses as short as 10 fs. We clearly distinguished the structural dynamics from the internal conversion and/or intersystem crossing, and elucidated the excited-state potential energy surface with help of complementary quantum chemical calculations.

Ultrafast structural change and coherent nuclear dynamics of metal complexes studied by femtosecond optical spectroscopy

245th National Meeting (2013)

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