Toward Simulation of Fe(II) Low-Spin → High-Spin Photoswitching by Synergistic Spin-Vibronic Dynamics.

A new theoretical approach is presented and applied for the simulation of Fe(II) low-spin (LS, singlet, te) → high-spin (HS, quintet, te) photoswitching dynamics of the octahedral model complex [Fe(NCH)]. The utilized synergistic methodology heavily exploits the strengths of complementary electronic structure and spin-vibronic dynamics methods. Specifically, we perform 3D quantum dynamics (QD) and full-dimensional trajectory surface hopping (TSH, in conjunction with a linear vibronic coupling model), with the modes for QD selected by TSH. We follow a hybrid approach which is based on the application of time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) excited-state potential energy surfaces (PESs) and multiconfigurational second-order perturbation theory (CASPT2) spin-orbit couplings (SOCs). Our method delivers accurate singlet-triplet-quintet intersystem crossing (ISC) dynamics, as assessed by comparison to our recent high-level simulations and related time-resolved experimental data. Furthermore, we investigate the capability of our simulations to identify the location of ISCs. Finally, we assess the approximation of constant SOCs (calculated at the Franck-Condon geometry), whose validity has central importance for the combination of TD-DFT PESs and CASPT2 SOCs. This efficient methodology will have a key role in simulating LS → HS dynamics for more complicated cases, involving higher density of states and varying electronic character, as well as the analysis of ultrafast experiments.