A sequential MC/TD-DFT study of the solvatochromic shift of the pyridinium-N-phenoxide betaine dye in water using standard and long-range corrected functionals

Solvatochromic shifts of the π–π∗ and n–π∗ transitions for the pyridinium-N-phenoxide [2-(pyridinium-1-yl)phenolate] betaine changing from vacuum to water, have been investigated using Monte Carlo simulations and time-dependent density functional theory schemes using standard and long-range corrected functionals. The classical Boltzmann distribution of the interring twist angle obtained from the calculated free energy agrees with a Car–Parrinello distribution. For the calculated spectral shifts BHandHLYP/6-311+G(2d,p) performs better than the CAM-B3LYP/6-311+G(2d,p) or LC-ωPBE/6-311+G(2d,p) model but the experimental shift is very well reproduced only after the inclusion of solute polarization and proper consideration of the twist geometry relaxation associated with the intramolecular charge transfer.