Solvent dependence of Stokes shift for organic solute-solvent systems: A comparative study by spectroscopy and reference interaction-site model-self-consistent-field theory

The Stokes shift magnitudes for coumarin 153 (C153) in 13 organic solvents with various polarities have been determined by means of steady-state spectroscopy and reference interaction-site model-self-consistent-field (RISM-SCF) theory. RISM-SCF calculations have reproduced experimental results fairly well, including individual solvent characteristics. It is empirically known that in some solvents, larger Stokes shift magnitudes are detected than anticipated on the basis of the solvent relative permittivity, ε_r. In practice, 1,4-dioxane (ε_r = 2.21) provides almost identical Stokes shift magnitudes to that of tetrahydrofuran (THF, ε_r = 7.58), for C153 and other typical organic solutes. In this work, RISM-SCF theory has been used to estimate the energetics of C153-solvent systems involved in the absorption and fluorescence processes. The Stokes shift magnitudes estimated by RISM-SCF theory are ∼5 kJ mol ^-1 (400 cm^-1) less than those determined by spectroscopy; however, the results obtained are still adequate for dipole moment comparisons, in a qualitative sense. We have also calculated the solute-solvent site-site radial distributions by this theory. It is shown that solvation structures with respect to the C-O-C framework, which is common to dioxane and THF, in the near vicinity (∼0.4 nm) of specific solute sites can largely account for their similar Stokes shift magnitudes. In previous works, such solute-solvent short-range interactions have been explained in terms of the higher-order multipole moments of the solvents. Our present study shows that along with the short-range interactions that contribute most significantly to the energetics, long-range electrostatic interactions are also important. Such long-range interactions are effective up to 2 nm from the solute site, as in the case of a typical polar solvent, acetonitrile.