Ultrafast hydrolysis of a Lewis photoacid

This study explores the concept that electronic excitation can dramatically enhance Lewis acidity. Specifically, it is shown that photoexcitation transforms an electron-deficient organic compound of negligible Lewis acidity in its electronic ground state into a potent excited-state Lewis acid that releases a proton from a nearby water molecule in 3.1 ps. It was shown previously (Peon et al. J. Phys. Chem. A 2001, 105, 5768) that the excited state of methyl viologen (MV(2+)) is quenched rapidly in aqueous solution with the formation of an unidentified photoproduct. In this study, the quenching mechanism and the identity of the photoproduct were investigated by the femtosecond transient absorption and fluorescence upconversion techniques. Transient absorption signals at UV probe wavelengths reveal a long-lived species with a pH-dependent lifetime due to reaction with hydronium ions at a bimolecular rate of 3.1 × 10(9) M(-1) s(-1). This species is revealed to be a charge-transfer complex consisting of a ground-state MV(2+) ion and a hydroxide ion formed when a water molecule transfers a proton to the bulk solvent. Formation of a contact ion pair between MV(2+) and hydroxide shifts the absorption spectrum of the former ion by a few nm to longer wavelengths, yielding a transient absorption spectrum with a distinctive triangle wave appearance. The slight shift of this spectrum, which is in excellent agreement with steady-state difference spectra recorded for MV(2+) at high pH, is consistent with an ion pair but not with a covalent adduct (pseudobase). The long lifetime of the ion pair at neutral pH indicates that dissociation occurs many orders of magnitude more slowly than predicted by the Smoluchowski-Debye equation. Remarkably, there is no evidence of geminate recombination, suggesting that the proton that is transferred to the solvent is conducted at least several water shells away. Although the hydrolysis mechanism has yet to be fully established, evidence suggests that the strongly oxidizing excited state of MV(2+) triggers the proton-coupled oxidation of a water molecule. The observed kinetic isotope effect of 1.7 seen in D2O vs H2O is of the magnitude expected for an ultrafast concerted proton-electron transfer reaction. The ultrafast hydrolysis seen here may be a general excited-state quenching mechanism for electronically excited Lewis acids and other powerful photooxidants in aqueous solution.