Hydrogen bonds vs. π-stacking interactions in the p-aminophenol⋯p-cresol dimer: an experimental and theoretical study

The gas phase structure and excited state lifetime of the p-aminophenol⋯p-cresol heterodimer have been investigated by REMPI and LIF spectroscopy with nanosecond laser pulses and pump–probe experiments with picosecond laser pulses as a model system to study the competition between π–π and H-bonding interactions in aromatic dimers. The excitation is a broad and unstructured band. The excited state of the heterodimer is long lived (2.5 ± 0.5) ns with a very broad fluorescence spectrum red-shifted by 4000 cm−1 with respect to the excitation spectrum. Calculations at the MP2/RI-CC2 and DFT-ωB97X-D levels indicate that hydrogen-bonded (HB) and π-stacked isomers are almost isoenergetic in the ground state while in the excited state only the π-stacked isomer exists. This suggests that the HB isomer cannot be excited due to negligible Franck–Condon factors and therefore the excitation spectrum is associated with the π-stacked isomer that reaches vibrationally excited states in the S1 state upon vertical excitation. The excited state structure is an exciplex responsible for the fluorescence of the complex. Finally, a comparison was performed between the π-stacked structure observed for the p-aminophenol⋯p-cresol heterodimer and the HB structure reported for the (p-cresol)2 homodimer indicating that the differences are due to different optical properties (oscillator strengths and Franck–Condon factors) of the isomers of both dimers and not to the interactions involved in the ground state.