Inner-Shell Water Rearrangement Following Photoexcitation of Tris(2,2'-bipyridine)iron(II)

The solvent dynamics in Fe-tris-bipyridine [Fe(bpy)3](2+) upon electronic excitation (oxidation) and subsequent relaxation is followed on the picosecond time scale by using atomistic simulations. Starting from the low spin (LS) Fe(II)LS state the transition to the excited Fe(III) (1,3)MLCT (metal-to-ligand charge transfer) state decreases the water coordination in immediate proximity of the central iron atom. This readjustment of the solvent shell occurs on the subpicosecond time scale. Full relaxation of the water environment would occur on the 10 ps time scale which is, however, never reached as the lifetime of the (1,3)MLCT state is only 200 fs. Further relaxation toward the long-lived (665 ps) [Fe(II)HS(bpy)3] high spin (HS) state does not change the degree of solvation. The results support a model in which the change in the degree of solvation is driven by electronic effects (charge redistribution) and not by structural changes (change in bond lengths). Furthermore, the results are consistent with recent combined X-ray emission (XES) and X-ray diffusion (XDS) scattering experiments which provided evidence for a reduced solvent density upon excitation of the [Fe(II)LS(bpy)3] initial state. However, the time scale for water exchange dynamics is faster than that found in the experiments.