Hydrogen bonding and coordination bonding in the electronically excited states of the MOF Cu2 (L)2 (L=5-(4-pyridyl)tetrazole) CH2Cl2: A time-dependent density functional theory study

The solvent-dependent luminescent metal-organic framework (MOF), Cu2(L)2·CH2Cl2 (L=5-(4-pyridyl)tetrazole), in the electronically excited states was studied using time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) method. Based on the analysis of the frontier molecular orbitals and electronic configuration, it revealed that the emission is attributed to a ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT). Besides, we investigated the behavior of the hydrogen bonding and coordination bonding in the excited state S1 of Cu2(L)2·CH2Cl2. The results indicated that the strength of the hydrogen bonding N5⋯H39-C2 between the dichloromethane molecule and the tetrazole ligand was decreased in the S1 state, while the coordination bond Cu2-N8 was strengthened in the excited state. Moreover, we further demonstrated that the hydrogen bonding weakening and coordination bonding strengthening should be beneficial to the luminescent process of the MOF.