The excited-state dynamics of 5-fluorouracil in acetonitrile has been investigated by femtosecond fluorescence upconversion spectroscopy in combination with quantum chemistry TD-DFT calculations ((PCM/TD-PBEO). Experimentally, it was found that when going from water to acetonitrile solution the fluorescence decay of 5FU becomes much faster. The calculations show that this is related to the opening of an additional decay channel in acetonitrile solution since the dark n/π* excited state becomes near degenerate with the bright π/π* state, forming a conical intersection close to the Franck-Condon region. In both solvents, a S 1-S0 conical intersection, governed by the out-of-plane motion of the fluorine atom, is active, allowing an ultrafast internal conversion to the ground state. © 2006 American Chemical Society.

*** IBB - CNR ***

Laboratoire Francis Perrin, DSM/DRECAM/SPAM - CNRS URA 2453, CEA Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur, Yvette, France

Dipartimento di Chimica, Universita Federico II, Complesso Universitario Monte S. Angelo, Via Cintia, I-80I26 Napoli, Italy

Istituto Biostrutture e Bioimmagini, CNR, V. Mezzocannone 6, 80I34, Napoli, Italy

Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, 721 302, WB, India

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