From ab initio electronic structure calculations it has been predicted that 4-(dimethylamino)phenylacetylene (DACET) will undergo an exothermic intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) reaction with dual fluorescence even under isolated-molecule conditions. Photostationary and time-resolved fluorescence measurements reveal however that an ICT reaction does not occur with DACET under any condition of solvent polarity or temperature studied. DACET is similar to 4-(methyl)aminobenzonitrile, which shows only fluorescence from a locally excited state, but is clearly different from the dual fluorescent 4-(dimethyl)aminobenzonitrile (DMABN). The energy gap A E(S 1,$2) of DACET is larger than that of DMABN, supporting the importance of this gap in these ICT reactions.

With the 1-aminonaphthalenes 1N5 and 1DMAN a fast radiationless process occurs in n-hexane, diethyl ether, and acetonitrile, which is shown to be internal conversion (IC). The IC reaction is slower with 1N4 and much less efficient with 1MAN and 1AN. This IC process is thermally activated and slows down with increasing solvent polarity, due to a larger IC activation energy. In the ground state S0, the amino twist angle θ relative to the naphthalene plane increases in the order 1MAN, 1AN, 1N4, 1N5, 1DMAN, as derived from absorption and fluorescence spectra, 1H NMR spectra, ground-state dipole moments, and ab initio calculations. For the five 1-aminonaphthalenes in the equilibrated S1 state, the twist angle and the radiative rate constant have similar values. The different IC efficiences of these molecules are therefore determined by the structural differences (amino twist angle) between S1 and S0. A correlation is found between the IC efficiency in these molecules and the twist angle θ. The IC process to S0 starts from the equilibrated S1 state, which is vibronically coupled with S2 due to a small energy gap ΔE(S1,S2). It is therefore concluded that the extent of vibronic coupling and the magnitude of the twist angle θ are the determining factors in the IC process.

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