Ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy of UO22+ and [UO2Cl]+

For the only water coordinated "free" uranyl(VI) aquo ion in perchlorate solution, we identified and assigned several different excited states and showed that the 3∆ state is the luminescent triplet state. With additional data from other spectroscopic methods (TRLFS, UV/Vis, and TAS), we generated a detailed Jabłoński diagram and determined rate constants for several state transitions, like the inner conversion rate constant from the 3Φ state to the 3∆ state transition to be 0.35 ps-1. In contrast to luminescence measurements, it was possible to observe the highly quenched uranyl(VI) ion in highly concentrated chloride solution by TAS and we were able to propose a dynamic quenching mechanism, where chloride complexation is followed by the charge transfer from the excited state uranyl(VI) to chloride. This proposed quenching route is supported by TD-DFT calculations.