Photochemical properties of carotenoids: what can we get from the VB model?

摘要

The empirical valence bond model, solved by the DMRG technique, is applied to the systematical study of the photochemical processes of carotenoids. The polyenes with five up to one hundred of C== C bonds are investigated. The probability of the state arrangement for the conjugated bond, Pij, is evaluated. It is a parameter to correlate the bond lengths, and could also be applied to rationalizing the quantum yields of the photo-isomerization and the reaction constant of the quenching of singlet-oxygen happened to the external C== C bond of the carotenoids. The maximum reaction constant in long chain limit is determined as about 2.92×1010 L·mol-1·s-1.