Electron vs energy transfer in arrays featuring two Bodipy chromophores axially bound to a Sn(IV) porphyrin via a phenolate or benzoate bridge

In this report we describe the synthesis of multichromophore arrays consisting of two Bodipy units axially bound to a Sn(IV) porphyrin center either via a phenolate (3) or via a carboxylate (6) functionality. Absorption spectra and electrochemical studies show that the Bodipy and porphyrin chromophores interact weakly in the ground state. However, steady-state emission and excitation spectra at room temperature reveal that fluorescence from both the Bodipy and the porphyrin of 3 are strongly quenched suggesting that, in the excited state, energy and/or electron transfer might occur. Indeed, as transient absorption experiments show, selective excitation of Bodipy in 3 results in a rapid decay (τ ≈ 2 ps) of the Bodipy-based singlet excited state and a concomitant rise of a charge-separated state evolving from the porphyrin-based singlet excited state. In contrast, room-temperature emission studies on 6 show strong quenching of the Bodipy-based fluorescence leading to sensitized emission from the porphyrin moiety due to a transduction of the singlet excited state energy from Bodipy to the porphyrin. Emission experiments at 77 K in frozen toluene reveal that the room-temperature electron transfer pathway observed in 3 is suppressed. Instead, Bodipy excitation in 3 and 6 results in population of the first singlet excited state of the porphyrin chromophore. Subsequently, intersystem crossing leads to the porphyrin-based triplet excited state.     

Exploring Förster electronic energy transfer in a decoupled anthracenyl-based borondipyrromethene (bodipy) dyad

An anthracenyl-Bodipy dyad containing a triazole bridge, that acts to decouple the two units in the ground state, has been synthesised and structurally characterised. Efficient electronic energy transfer occurs from the anthracenyl-based unit to the Bodipy system in toluene in around 12 ps, and becomes faster in solvents of lower refractive index. The rate of electronic energy transfer is discussed in terms of F?rster theory.     

Synthesis of novel tetrachromophoric cascade-type Bodipy dyes

Two series of multi-cascade scaffolds bearing a boradiazaindacene (yellow dye) or a boradibenzopyrromethene (green dye) as the final energy acceptor have been synthesized. Each scaffold contains one, two or three alkynylaryl energy donors (such as pyrene D₁, perylene D₂, and fluorene D₃) linked to the boron center. Palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling of dihalogenated Bodipy starting material enabled the step-by-step construction of the different modules. In all cases, selective irradiation in each absorbing subunit resulted in efficient energy transfer over 25 Å to the Bodipy units.     

Ultrafast Energy Transfer in Triptycene‐Grafted Bodipy Scaffoldings

A series of new compounds in which various Bodipy dyes are grafted logically on triptycene rigid structures are synthesized and characterized, and their absorption spectra and photophysical properties are studied, also by pump‐probe transient absorption spectroscopy. The studied compounds are: the mono‐Bodipy species TA, TB, and TC (where A, B, and C identify different Bodipy subunits absorbing and emitting at different wavelengths), the multichromophore species TA₃, which bears three identical A subunits, and the three multichromophoric species TAB, TBC, and TABC, all of them containing at least two different types of Bodipy subunits. The triptycene moiety plays the role of a rigid scaffold, keeping the various dyes at predetermined distances and allowing for a three‐dimensional structural arrangement of the multichromophoric species. The absorption spectra of the multichromophoric Bodipy species are essentially additive, indicating that negligible inter‐chromophoric interaction takes place at the ground state. Luminescence properties and transient absorption spectroscopy indicate that a very fast (on the picosecond time scale) and efficient photoinduced energy transfer occurs in all the multi‐Bodipy species, with the lower‐energy Bodipy subunits of each multi‐Bodipy compounds playing the role of an electronic energy collector. In TAB, an energy transfer from the A‐type Bodipy subunit to the B‐type one takes place with a rate constant of 1.6×10¹⁰ s^?1, whereas in TBC an energy transfer from the B‐type Bodipy subunit to the C‐type subunit is bi‐exponential, exhibiting rate constants of 1.7×10¹¹ and 1.9×10¹⁰ s^?1; the possible presence of different conformers with different donor–acceptor distances in this bichromophoric species is proposed to cause the bi‐exponential energy‐transfer process. Interpretation of the intricate energy‐transfer pathways occurring in TABC is made with the help of the processes identified in the bichromophoric compounds. In all cases, the measured energy‐transfer rate constants agree with a Förster mechanism for the energy‐transfer processes.     

Star-shaped panchromatic absorbing dyes based on a triazatruxene platform with diketopyrrolopyrrole and boron dipyrromethene substituents

The engineering of photoactive arrays built from a flat, functionalized triazatruxene (TAT) platform is described. The primary synthetic strategy involved the step by step connection of one, two or three bis(thienyl)diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) modules. Subsequent bromination of the pendent thiophene ring was not selective and provided a mixture of regioisomers. However, selective grafting of boron dipyrromethene (Bodipy) units via Pd-catalysed cross couplings enabled the construction of TAT/DPP/Bodipy arrays. As well, direct coupling of two green F-Bodipy units to dibromoTAT provided a substrate suitable for reaction with hydroxyl-propargyl-substituted red Bodipy dyes to give ready access to O-Bodipy linked multichromophoric systems. All the new dyes displayed strong absorption in the near-UV and visible region of the solar spectra (400–750 nm), with intramolecular cascade energy transfer enabling photon concentration and fluorescence at approximately 740 nm.     

ROFRET: A Molecular‐Scale Fluorescent Probe Displaying Viscosity‐Enhanced Intramolecular Förster Energy Transfer

The fluorescent probe ROFRET contains a Bodipy molecular rotor connected through a short triazole‐based spacer to a fully alkylated Bodipy. Förster resonance energy transfer takes place from the rotor to the other Bodipy, and is enhanced to a limiting value as the viscosity of the solvent increases. Time‐resolved spectroscopy and steady‐state studies are consistent with both forward and reverse energy transfer, and delayed fluorescence.     

Effect on Charge Transfer and Charge Recombination by Insertion of a Naphthalene‐Based Bridge in Molecular Dyads Based on Borondipyrromethene (Bodipy)

The photophysical properties of two related dyads based on a N,N‐dimethylaniline donor coupled to a fully‐alkylated boron dipyrromethene (Bodipy) acceptor are described. In one dyad, BD1 , the donor unit is attached directly to the Bodipy group, whereas in the second dyad, BD2 , a naphthalene spacer separates the two units. Cyclic voltammograms recorded for the two dyads in deoxygenated MeCN containing a background electrolyte are consistent with the reversible one‐electron oxidation of the N,N‐dimethylaniline group and the reversible one‐electron reduction of the Bodipy nucleus. There is a reasonable driving force (ΔG_CT) for photoinduced charge transfer from the N,N‐dimethylaniline to the Bodipy segment in MeCN. The charge‐transfer state is formed for BD1 extremely fast (1.5 ps), but decays over 140 ps to partially restore the ground state. On the other hand, the charge‐transfer state for BD2 is formed more slowly, but it decays extremely rapidly. Charge recombination for both dyads leads to a partial triplet formation on the Bodipy group. The naphthalene spacer group is extremely efficient at promoting back electron transfer.     

Synthesis of Symmetrical Multichromophoric Bodipy Dyes and Their Facile Transformation into Energy Transfer Cassettes

Multichromophoric boron‐dipyrromethene (Bodipy) dyes synthesized on phenylene‐ethynylene platforms have been be converted to energy transfer cassettes in a one‐step chemical transformation. Excitation energy transfer processes in these highly symmetrical derivatives were studied in detail, including time‐resolved fluorescence spectroscopy techniques. Excitation spectra and the emission lifetimes suggest efficient energy transfer between the donor and acceptor chromophore. These novel energy transfer cassettes, while highlighting a short‐cut approach to similar energy transfer systems, could be useful as large pseudo‐Stokes shift multichromophoric dyes with potential applications in diverse applications.     

Strong Visible‐Light‐Absorbing Cuprous Sensitizers for Dramatically Boosting Photocatalysis

Developing strong visible‐light‐absorbing (SVLA) earth‐abundant photosensitizers (PSs) for significantly improving the utilization of solar energy is highly desirable, yet it remains a great challenge. Herein, we adopt a through‐bond energy transfer (TBET) strategy by bridging boron dipyrromethene (Bodipy) and a Cu^I complex with an electronically conjugated bridge, resulting in the first SVLA Cu^I PSs ( Cu‐2 and Cu‐3 ). Cu‐3 has an extremely high molar extinction coefficient of 162 260 m ^?1 cm^?1 at 518 nm, over 62 times higher than that of traditional Cu^I PS ( Cu‐1 ). The photooxidation activity of Cu‐3 is much greater than that of Cu‐1 and noble‐metal PSs (Ru(bpy)₃²⁺ and Ir(ppy)₃⁺) for both energy‐ and electron‐transfer reactions. Femto‐ and nanosecond transient absorption and theoretical investigations demonstrate that a “ping‐pong” energy‐transfer process in Cu‐3 involving a forward singlet TBET from Bodipy to the Cu^I complex and a backward triplet‐triplet energy transfer greatly contribute to the long‐lived and Bodipy‐localized triplet excited state.     

Rapid energy transfer in cascade-type bodipy dyes

Three new molecular dyads, comprising a bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene (Bodipy) dye linked to two aromatic polycycles via the boron center, have been synthesized and fully characterized. The polycyclic compounds are either pyrene or perylene, or a mixture of both. Whereas the absorption spectral profiles contain important contributions from each of the subunits, fluorescence occurs exclusively from the Bodipy fragment. Intramolecular excitation energy transfer is extremely efficient in each case, even though spectral overlap integrals for the pyrene-based system are modest. Although these polycycles are sterically congested, molecular dynamics simulations indicate that they are in dynamic motion, and this hinders proper computation of the orientation factors for F?rster-type energy transfer. These new dyes, especially the mixed polycycle system, greatly extend the range of excitation wavelengths that can be used for fluorescence microscopy.     

A Bodipy-bearing pillar[5]arene for mimicking photosynthesis: Multi-fluorophoric light harvesting system

Herein, we submitted to the original synthesis, characterization, energy transfer mechanism of the Bodipy-bearing pillar[5]arene Bodipy and its reactants by employing of infrared, ¹H, ¹¹B, ¹³C, ¹⁹F-NMRs, UV–vis, fluorescence spectroscopy, melting point apparatus, CHN elemental analysis and mass spectroscopy. Preliminary UV–vis, fluorescence and excitation measurements were carried out in CH₂Cl₂ and the results revealed an effective fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) system based on the interaction of pillar[5]arene and Bodipy derivative. ε_max of target molecule reached to a maximum value and it was found as 955 000?M^?1?cm^?1. This fluorescent macromolecule worked well for mimicking a light harvesting system with an energy transfer efficiency up to 92%.     

Isocyanate-, isothiocyanate-, urea-, and thiourea-substituted boron dipyrromethene dyes as fluorescent probes

Boron dipyrromethene dyes (Bodipy) bearing a meso-phenyl substituent carrying a variety of functional groups can be prepared under mild conditions. A single-crystal X-ray structure determination for the 3,5-dinitrophenyl compound shows the phenyl ring to be almost orthogonal (dihedral angle 84 degrees) to the plane of the Bodipy core, with one nitro group almost coplanar with the ring and the other tilted by approximately 21 degrees. Nitro substituents at the 3-, 4-, and 5- positions of the phenyl group are readily reduced to the corresponding amino groups and then converted to isocyanato, isothiocyanato, urea, thiourea, and some polyimine derivatives, the last providing additional functionality (phenazine and pyridylindole units) suitable for chelation of metal ions. All compounds are redox active, the electron-transfer processes being assigned on the basis of comparisons with model compounds. Their fluorescence properties are sensitive to the phenyl group substituents. The Bodipy unit excited state appears to be a strong reductant (Eo approximately -1.4 V) and a modest oxidant (Eo approximately +1.0 V). Quenching processes in the nitro and phenazine derivatives appear to involve intramolecular photoinduced electron transfer.     

Rational design and synthesis for versatile FRET ratiometric sensor for Hg2+ and Fe2+: a flexible 8-hydroxyquinoline benzoate linked Bodipy-porphyrin dyad

A flexible 8-hydroxyquinoline benzoate linked Bodipy-porphyrin dyad has been designed, synthesized, and characterized. Binding of this dyad with Hg(2+)/Fe(2+) induced just the opposite (promoting/restraining) influence on energy transfer from the Bodipy donor to the porphyrin acceptor, resulting in a remarkably different ratio change of two signal emissions, endowing this dyad as the first Bodipy-porphyrin-based versatile fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) ratiometric sensor for Hg(2+) and Fe(2+) ions, respectively.     

A Panchromatic Supramolecular Fullerene‐Based Donor–Acceptor Assembly Derived from a Peripherally Substituted Bodipy–Zinc Phthalocyanine Dyad

A panchromatic 4,4‐difluoro‐4‐bora‐3a,4a‐diaza‐s‐indacene –zinc phthalocyanine conjugate (Bodipy–ZnPc) 1 was synthesized starting from phthalocyanine aldehyde 4 , via dipyrromethane 3 and dipyrromethene 2 . Conjugate 1 represents the first example in which a Bodipy unit is tethered to the peripheral position of a phthalocyanine core. Electrochemical and optical measurements provided evidence for strong electronic interactions between the Bodipy and ZnPc constituents in the ground state of 1 . When conjugate 1 is subjected to photoexcitation in the spectral region corresponding to the Bodipy absorption, the strong fluorescence characteristic of the latter subunit is effectively quenched (i.e., ≥97 %). Excitation spectral analysis confirmed that the photoexcited Bodipy and the tethered ZnPc subunits interact and that intraconjugate singlet energy transfer occurs with an efficiency of ca. 25 %. Treatment of conjugate 1 with N‐pyridylfulleropyrrolidine ( 8 ), an electron‐acceptor system containing a nitrogen ligand, gives rise to the novel electron donor–acceptor hybrid 1 ? 8 through ligation to the ZnPc center. Irradiation of the resulting supramolecular ensemble within the visible range leads to a charge‐separated Bodipy–ZnPc^.+–C₆₀^.? radical‐ion‐pair state, through a sequence of excited‐state and charge transfers, characterized by a remarkably long lifetime of 39.9 ns in toluene.     

Engineering tuneable light-harvesting systems with oligothiophene donors and mono- or bis-bodipy acceptors

Oligothiophene-Bodipy-based donor-acceptor systems for light harvesting have been synthesized and characterized. Absorption, excitation, and emission spectra indicate a tuneable and efficient resonance energy transfer from quaterthiophene as donor to mono- and bis-Bodipy as acceptors. This shows that engineering tuneable light harvesting systems is possible based on the combination of oligothiophenes with one or two Bodipy(s).     

Intramolecular excimer formation for covalently linked boron dipyrromethene dyes

Photophysical properties have been recorded for a small series of covalently linked, symmetrical dimers formed around boron dipyrromethene (Bodipy) dyes. Within the series, a control dimer is unable to adopt a cofacial arrangement because of steric factors, while a second dimer possesses sufficient internal flexibility to form the cofacial geometry but with little overlap of the Bodipy units. The other three members of the series take up a cofacial arrangement with varying bite angles between the planes of the two Bodipy units. Fluorescence quantum yields and excited-state lifetimes indicate differing extents of electronic interaction between the two Bodipy head-groups, but only the compound with the smallest bite angle exhibits excimer emission in solution under ambient conditions. Time-resolved fluorescence studies show dual-exponential decay kinetics in each case, while temperature-dependent emission studies reveal reversible coupling between monomer and lower-energy excimer states. The latter is weakly fluorescent, at best, and is seen clearly only for dimers having small bite angles. The application of high pressure to dilute solutions of these dimers promotes excimer formation in certain cases and leads to loss of monomer-like fluorescence. Under high pressure, excimer emission is more evident, and the overall results can be discussed in terms of subtle structural rearrangements that favor excimer formation.     

Novel fluorescent liquid crystals: synthesis,mesomorphism and fluorescence of triphenylene-Bodipy derivatives based on 1,3,5-triazine core

The novel triphenylene-Bodipy derivatives 6 and 7 based on 1,3,5-triazine core were designed and synthesised by introducing BODIPY unit and triphenylene units sequentially onto cyanuric chloride. The Bodipy derivative 6 with one triphenylene unit was a nematic liquid crystal but the derivative 7 with two triphenylene units was a hexagonal columnar liquid crystal. The investigation on photophysical properties suggested that both of them exhibited excellent fluorescence with high fluorescence quantum yields and the Stokes shifts were larger than their Bodipy precursors. This research presented a good example of design and synthesis of columnar Bodipy liquid crystal with high fluorescence and large Stokes shift.     

Synthesis and photophysical properties of borondipyrromethene dyes bearing aryl substituents at the boron center

Several borondipyrromethene (Bodipy) dyes bearing an aryl nucleus linked directly to the boron center have been prepared under mild conditions. The choice of Grignard or lithio organo-metallic reagents allows the isolation of B(F)(aryl) or B(aryl)2 derivatives; where aryl refers to phenyl, anisyl, naphthyl, or pyrenyl fragments. A single crystal, X-ray structure determination for the bis-anisyl compound shows that the sp3 hybridized boron center remains pseudo-tetrahedral and that the B-C bond distances are 1.615 and 1.636 A. All compounds are electrode active but replacement of the fluorine atoms by aryl fragments renders the Bodipy unit more easily oxidized by 100 mV in the B(F)(aryl) and 180 mV in the B(aryl)2 compounds whereas reduction is made more difficult by a comparable amount. Strong fluorescence is observed from the Bodipy fluorophore present in each of the new dyes, with the radiative rate constant being independent of the nature of the aryl substituent. The fluorescence quantum yields are solvent dependent and, at least in some cases (aryl = anisyl or pyrenyl), nonradiative decay from the first-excited singlet state is strongly activated. There is no indication, however, for population of a charge-transfer state, in which the aryl substituent acts as donor and the Bodipy fragment functions as acceptor, that is strongly coupled to the ground state. Instead, it is conjectured that nonradiative decay involves a conformational change driven by the solvophobic effect. Thus, the rate of nonradiative decay in any given solvent increases with increasing surface accessibility (or molar volume) of the aryl substituent. Intramolecular energy transfer from pyrene or naphthalene residues to Bodipy is quantitative.     

Artificial light-harvesting arrays: electronic energy migration and trapping on a sphere and between spheres

A sophisticated model of the natural light-harvesting antenna has been devised by decorating a C(60) hexa-adduct with ten yellow and two blue boron dipyrromethene (Bodipy) dyes in such a way that the dyes retain their individuality and assist solubility of the fullerene. Unusually, the fullerene core is a poor electron acceptor and does not enter into light-induced electron-transfer reactions with the appended dyes, but ineffective electronic energy transfer from the excited-state dye to the C(60) residue competes with fluorescence from the yellow dye. Intraparticle electronic energy transfer from yellow to blue dyes can be followed by steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy and by excitation spectra for isolated C(60) nanoparticles dissolved in dioxane at 293 K and at 77 K. The decorated particles can be loaded into polymer films by spin coating from solution. In the dried film, efficient energy transfer occurs such that photons absorbed by the yellow dye are emitted by the blue dye. Films can also be prepared to contain C(60) nanoparticles loaded with the yellow Bodipy dye but lacking the blue dye and, under these circumstances, electronic energy migration occurs between yellow dyes appended to the same nanoparticle and, at higher loading, to dye molecules on nearby particles. Doping these latter polymer films with the mixed-dye nanoparticle coalesces these multifarious processes in a single system. Thus, long-range energy migration occurs among yellow dyes attached to different particles before trapping at a blue dye. In this respect, the film resembles the natural photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes, albeit at much reduced efficacy. The decorated nanoparticles sensitize amorphous silicon photocells.     

Energy Flow in a Purpose‐Built Cascade Molecule Bearing Three Distinct Chromophores Attached to the Terminal Acceptor

A multicomponent cluster has been synthesised in which four disparate chromophores have been covalently linked through a logical arrangement that favours efficient photon collection and migration to a terminal emitter. The primary energy acceptor is a boron dipyrromethene (Bodipy) dye and different polycyclic aryl hydrocarbons have been substituted in place of the regular fluorine atoms attached to the boron centre. The first such unit is perylene, linked to boron through a 1,4‐diethynylphenyl unit, which collects photons in the 320–490 nm region. The other photon collector is pyrene, also connected to the boron centre by a 1,4‐diethynylphenyl spacer and absorbing strongly in the 280–420 nm region, which itself is equipped with an ethynylfluorene residue that absorbs in the UV region. Illumination into any of the polycyclic aryl hydrocarbons results in emission from the Bodipy unit. The rates of intramolecular electronic energy transfer have been determined from time‐correlated, single‐photon counting studies and compared with the rates for Coulombic interactions computed from the Förster expression. It has been necessary to allow for i) a more complex screening potential, ii) multipole–multipole coupling, iii) an extended transition dipole moment vector and iv) bridge‐mediated energy transfer. The bridge‐mediated energy transfer includes both modulation of the donor transition dipole vector by bridge states and Dexter‐type electron exchange. The latter is a consequence of the excellent electronic coupling properties of the 1,4‐diethynylphenyl spacer unit. The net result is a large antenna effect that localises the photon density at the primary acceptor without detracting from its highly favourable photophysical properties.