Primary ultrafast events preceding the photoinduced proton transfer from pyranine to water

Femtosecond fluorescence and absorption spectroscopies are used to probe the early events of the photoinduced proton transfer (PT) from pyranine to water. The process is found to involve two ultrafast steps (300 fs and 2.5 ps) which precede the relatively slow (87 ps) PT step. From the comparative study of the properties of the excited acid and its conjugate anion in various aqueous and alcoholic media, these ultrafast steps are identified as the solvation dynamics of the locally excited (LE) state of the acid and its subsequent relaxation to an intermediate electronic state, whose nature is discussed.