Modulation of Lifetimes and Diastereomeric Discrimination in Triplet-Excited Substituted Butane-1,4-diones through Intramolecular Charge-Transfer Quenching

Triplet lifetimes have been determined for the diastereomers of a broad set of butane-1,4-dione derivatives (1−3). A remarkable dependence of lifetimes on conformational preferences is revealed in that the lifetimes are shorter for the meso diastereomers of 1−3 than those for the racemic ones. The intramolecular β-phenyl quenching is promoted in the case of meso diastereomers by virtue of the gauche relationship between the excited carbonyl group and the β-aryl ring, while a distal arrangement in the lowest energy conformation (H-anti) in racemic diastereomers prevents such a deactivation. The involvement of charge transfer in the intramolecular β-phenyl quenching is suggested by the correlation of the triplet lifetimes of the meso diastereomers of compounds 2 with the nature of the substituent on the β-phenyl rings. In the case of racemic diastereomers, p-methoxy substitution on the β-phenyl ring (2-OCH₃, 3-OCH₃) also led to a decrease of the triplet lifetimes when compared to those of the nonsubstituted compounds (2-H, 3-H). This shortening is accounted for by the deactivation of a small proportion of the excited molecules through β-phenyl quenching. In addition to the above factors, the lifetimes in the case of meso diastereomers can further be controlled by increasing the energy spacing between the T₁ and T₂ states, since β-phenyl quenching occurs from the latter for compounds 2 and 3. Through a rational conformational control, a surprisingly long triplet lifetime (300 ns) has been measured for the first time for a purely n,π* triplet-excited β-phenylpropiophenone dimer (1-rac).