Nonadiabatic molecular dynamics simulation for the ultrafast photoisomerization of dMe-OMe-NAIP based on TDDFT on-the-fly potential energy surfaces

Abstract

Global switching on-the-fly trajectory surface hopping molecular dynamics simulation was performed on the accurate TD-B3LYP/6-31G* potential energy surfaces for E-to-Z and Z-to-E photoisomerization of dMe-OMe-NAIP up to S₁(ππ*) excitation. The present TD(DFT) simulation provides accurate calculation for conical intersections between the first-excited and ground states. Thus, simulated quantum yield and lifetime of 0.23 and 620 fs (0.15 and 600 fs) for E-to-Z (Z-to-E) isomerization are in good (relatively good) agreement with experimental observation of 0.25 and 480 fs (0.24 and 430 fs), respectively. Simulated results reveal that photoisomerization pathways are initially uphill to conical intersection zones on the S₁ potential energy surface and then downhill to product zones. Three types of representative conical intersections are found for determining photoisomerization mechanisms: one is the rotation type responsible for reactive isomerization and the other two are close to E and Z configurations, respectively, only for nonreactive isomerization. The present conclusions can be held in general for similar large NAIP systems of photoinduced isomerization based on E and Z configurations.