Chemical Physics Letters, Vol.544, 39-42, 2012
Long-lived perpendicular conformation in the photoisomerization path of 1,1'-dimethylstilbene and 1,1'-diethylstilbene
Olefinic bismethylation (bisethylation) lowers the barrier to isomerization in photoexcited stilbene, resulting in ultrafast (0.3 ps) twist to the perpendicular conformation which is the common intermediate for the trans-cis and cis-trans reaction. The perpendicular state is long-lived, 19 ps in hexane and 2.9 ps in acetonitrile. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.