Medium effects on the direct cis-trans photoisomerization of 1,4-diphenyl-1,3-butadiene in solution.

Quantum yields for the photoisomerization of trans,trans-1,4-diphenyl-1,3-butadiene (tt-DPB), determined in benzene, cyclohexane, methylcyclohexane, hexane, and perfluorohexane, confirm the low values reported earlier for benzene and cyclohexane and reveal even lower values in the last two solvents. In contrast to trans-stilbene (t-St), fluorescence and torsional relaxation leading to photoisomerization do not account exclusively for S1tt-DPB decay. Competing radiationless singlet excited-state decay pathways exist in tt-DPB, which do not lead to photoisomerization and may not involve large-amplitude torsional motions. Our results invalidate analyses of tt-DPB fluorescence quantum yields and lifetimes that assign all radiationless decay to the isomerization channel. Gas-phase chromatography analysis of tt-DPB photoisomerization in hexane shows the reaction to be concentration-independent and reveals, for the first time, a significant, two-bond photoisomerization pathway, ϕtt→tc = 0.092 and ϕtt→cc = 0.020....