Ultrafast Charge Separation Driven by Solvation-Coupled Intramolecular Torsion

Photoinduced intramolecular charge separation in a pyrene- and triarylamine-based donor–acceptor dyad was studied by polarization-dependent femtosecond time-resolved transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy in polar solvents. Photoexcitation forms an excited state with charge transfer (CT) character due to the intrinsic electronic coupling between the triarylamine and pyrene groups, resulting in ultrafast charge separation (CS) in polar solvents. TA measurements reveal a correlation between the rate of CS and solvation dynamics, which implies that solvation is involved in the CS reaction. In addition, polarization-dependent TA spectroscopy was devoted to tracking the ultrafast anisotropy evolution of the cationic absorption band, which is attributed to intramolecular torsional motion and is proposed to be coupled to diffusive orientational solvent modes. The results therefore reveal that the evolution of the CT state in the condensed phase is driven by solvation-coupled excited-state structural relaxation. In other words, intramolecular torsional motion is directly confirmed to be involved in the reaction coordinate of the CS reaction in a strongly coupled donor–acceptor dyad.