Hole burning spectroscopy of tetraphenylporphyrins

The persistent spectral hole burning technique has been applied to free base and central metal tetraphenylporphyrins with different substituents. The upper limits of the singlet-singlet homogeneous widths determined from the observed persistent holes have been correlated with the fluorescence lifetimes at low temperatures. Hole burning kinetics and mechanisms of both free base and central metal pigments are discussed.The authors would like to thank dr. V. Král and P. Pancoska for supplying the tetraphenylporphyrins, prof. K. Vacek and I. Pelant for stimulating discussions.