The Raman and SERS spectra of indigo and indigo-Ag₂ complex: DFT calculation and comparison with experiment

Using time-dependent density functional theory in conjunction with B3LYP functional and LANL2DZ/6-31+g(d,p) basis sets, static and pre-resonance Raman spectra of the indigo-Ag₂ complex have been calculated. Structure optimization, excitation energies and pre-resonance Raman spectra of the indigo molecule have been obtained at the same level of theory. The available experimental Raman spectra at 1064, 785 and 514nm and the SERS spectra at 785 and 514nm have been well reproduced by the calculation. Experimental SERS spectra are confronted with the calculated pre-resonance Raman spectra obtained for the indigo-Ag₂ complex. The Raman activities calculated under the infinite lifetime approximation show a strong dependence upon the proximity to the energy and the oscillator strength of the excitation electronic transition. The comparison of the integrated EFs for indigo and indigo-Ag₂ calculated Raman spectra, gave some hints as to the enhancement mechanisms acting for the different excitation wavelengths. Whereas for excitation at a wavelength corresponding to 785nm, the enhancement mechanism for the Raman spectrum of the metal complex seems the chemical one, the strong increment (ten times) of the integrated EF of the Raman spectra of the complex in the case of 514nm excitation, suggests the onset of other enhancement mechanisms. Assuming that intra-cluster transitions with high oscillator strength can be thought of as to mimic surface plasmons excitations, we suggest the onset of the electromagnetic mechanisms (EM) as the origin of the Raman spectrum enhancement. Nevertheless, other enhancement effects cannot be ruled out, as a new molecular transition gains strength in the proximity of the excitation wavelength, as a consequence of the symmetry lowering of the molecule in the complex. A large variation across vibrational modes, by a factor of at least 10⁴, was found for the EFs. This large variation in the EFs can indicate that B-term Herzberg-Teller scattering, due to metal and/or charge transfer states, can feed intensity to the inactive (in the molecule) and/or non totally symmetric modes.