Excited-state free energy surfaces in solution: Time-dependent density functional theory∕reference interaction site model self-consistent field method.

Abstract

Constructing free energy surfaces for electronically excited states is a first step toward the understanding of photochemical processes in solution. For that purpose, the analytic free energy gradient is derived and implemented for the linear-response time-dependent density functional theory combined with the reference interaction site model self-consistent field method. The proposed method is applied to study (1) the fluorescence spectra of aqueous acetone and (2) the excited-state intramolecular proton transfer reaction of ortho-hydroxybenzaldehyde in an acetonitrile solution.