The paramagnetic effect, which was
often found to quench the fluorescence
and decrease the phosphorescence radiative lifetime, has not been
quantitatively studied for gadolinium(III) complexes that do not have
low-lying 4f orbitals. Meanwhile, much attention also needs to be
paid to distinguish the paramagnetic effect with the heavy-atom effect,
both of which are believed to display a very similar influence on
the kinetics of fluorescence and phosphorescence. In this work, a
detailed theoretical investigation of the paramagnetic effect observed
in earlier experiments for the open-shell gadolinium(III) texaphyrin
(Gd-Tex) is given by the time-dependent density functional theory
with the 4f-in-valence lanthanide pseudopotential. The results show
that the paramagnetic effect is realized by the interaction between
Gd(III) 4f and ligand σ excited electrons bridged by the Gd(III)
6s orbital, and the electronic structure of the ligand-centered fluorescence
emission state is mixed with the metal-centered ones, which significantly
affects the fluorescence quenching mechanism. No such hybrid state
is observed in the Gd-Tex phosphorescence spectrum, indicating that
the heavy-atom effect should be to blame for the much shorter radiative
lifetime of phosphorescence in the paramagnet. The findings in this
work help to rationalize the existing experimental data and to promote
the potential therapeutic usage of texaphyrins as photosensitizers
in the photodynamic therapy.