Photoinduced Electron Transfer within a Zinc Porphyrin–Cyclobis(paraquat‐p‐phenylene) Donor–Acceptor Dyad

Understanding the mechanism of efficient photoinduced electron‐transfer processes is essential for developing molecular systems for artificial photosynthesis. Towards this goal, we describe the synthesis of a donor–acceptor dyad comprising a zinc porphyrin donor and a tetracationic cyclobis(paraquat‐p‐phenylene) (CBPQT⁴⁺) acceptor. The X‐ray crystal structure of the dyad reveals the formation of a dimeric motif through the intermolecular coordination between the triazole nitrogen and the central Zn metal of two adjacent units of the dyad. Photoinduced electron transfer within the dyad in MeCN was investigated by femtosecond and nanosecond transient absorption spectroscopy, as well as by transient EPR spectroscopy. Photoexcitation of the dyad produced a weakly coupled ZnP^+.–CBPQT^3+. spin‐correlated radical‐ion pair having a τ=146 ns lifetime and a spin–spin exchange interaction of only 0.23 mT. The long radical‐ion‐pair lifetime results from weak donor–acceptor electronic coupling as a consequence of having nine bonds between the donor and the acceptor, and the reduction in reorganization energy for electron transfer caused by charge dispersal over both paraquat units within CBPQT^3+..     

Ultrafast Photoinduced Energy and Electron Transfer in Multi‐Modular Donor–Acceptor Conjugates

New multi‐modular donor–acceptor conjugates featuring zinc porphyrin (ZnP), catechol‐chelated boron dipyrrin (BDP), triphenylamine (TPA) and fullerene (C₆₀), or naphthalenediimide (NDI) have been newly designed and synthesized as photosynthetic antenna and reaction‐center mimics. The X‐ray structure of triphenylamine‐BDP is also reported. The wide‐band capturing polyad revealed ultrafast energy‐transfer (k_ENT=1.0×10¹² s^?1) from the singlet excited BDP to the covalently linked ZnP owing to close proximity and favorable orientation of the entities. Introducing either fullerene or naphthalenediimide electron acceptors to the TPA‐BDP‐ZnP triad through metal–ligand axial coordination resulted in electron donor–acceptor polyads whose structures were revealed by spectroscopic, electrochemical and computational studies. Excitation of the electron donor, zinc porphyrin resulted in rapid electron‐transfer to coordinated fullerene or naphthalenediimide yielding charge separated ion‐pair species. The measured electron transfer rate constants from femtosecond transient spectral technique in non‐polar toluene were in the range of 5.0×10⁹–3.5×10¹⁰ s^?1. Stabilization of the charge‐separated state in these multi‐modular donor–acceptor polyads is also observed to certain level.     

Photoinduced Energy and Electron Transfer in Phenylethynyl‐Bridged Zinc Porphyrin–Oligothienylenevinylene–C60 Ensembles

Donor–bridge–acceptor triad (Por‐2TV‐C₆₀) and tetrad molecules ((Por)₂‐2TV‐C₆₀), which incorporated C₆₀ and one or two porphyrin molecules that were covalently linked through a phenylethynyl‐oligothienylenevinylene bridge, were synthesized. Their photodynamics were investigated by fluorescence measurements, and by femto‐ and nanosecond laser flash photolysis. First, photoinduced energy transfer from the porphyrin to the C₆₀ moiety occurred rather than electron transfer, followed by electron transfer from the oligothienylenevinylene to the singlet excited state of the C₆₀ moiety to produce the radical cation of oligothienylenevinylene and the radical anion of C₆₀. Then, back‐electron transfer occurred to afford the triplet excited state of the oligothienylenevinylene moiety rather than the ground state. Thus, the porphyrin units in (Por)‐2TV‐C₆₀ and (Por)₂‐2TV‐C₆₀ acted as efficient photosensitizers for the charge separation between oligothienylenevinylene and C₆₀.     

Remarkable Dependence of the Final Charge Separation Efficiency on the Donor–Acceptor Interaction in Photoinduced Electron Transfer

The unprecedented dependence of final charge separation efficiency as a function of donor–acceptor interaction in covalently‐linked molecules with a rectilinear rigid oligo‐p‐xylene bridge has been observed. Optimization of the donor–acceptor electronic coupling remarkably inhibits the undesirable rapid decay of the singlet charge‐separated state to the ground state, yielding the final long‐lived, triplet charge‐separated state with circa 100 % efficiency. This finding is extremely useful for the rational design of artificial photosynthesis and organic photovoltaic cells toward efficient solar energy conversion.     

Long‐Lived Charge Separation in Novel Axial Donor–Porphyrin–Acceptor Triads Based on Tetrathiafulvalene,Aluminum(III) Porphyrin and Naphthalenediimide

Two self‐assembled supramolecular donor–acceptor triads consisting of Al^III porphyrin (AlPor) with axially bound naphthalenediimide (NDI) as an acceptor and tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) as a secondary donor are reported. In the triads, the NDI and TTF units are attached to Al^III on opposite faces of the porphyrin, through covalent and coordination bonds, respectively. Fluorescence studies show that the lowest excited singlet state of the porphyrin is quenched through electron transfer to NDI and hole transfer to TTF. In dichloromethane hole transfer to TTF dominates, whereas in benzonitrile (BN) electron transfer to NDI is the main quenching pathway. In the nematic phase of the liquid crystalline solvent 4‐(n‐pentyl)‐4′‐cyanobiphenyl (5CB), a spin‐polarized transient EPR spectrum that is readily assigned to the weakly coupled radical pair TTF^.+NDI^.? is obtained. The initial polarization pattern indicates that the charge separation occurs through the singlet channel and that singlet–triplet mixing occurs in the primary radical pair. At later time the polarization pattern inverts as a result of depopulation of the states with singlet character by recombination to the ground state. The singlet lifetime of TTF^.+NDI^.? is estimated to be 200–300 ns, whereas the triplet lifetime in the approximately 350 mT magnetic field of the X‐band EPR spectrometer is about 10 μs. In contrast, in dichloromethane and BN the lifetime of the charge separation is <10 ns.     

Photoinduced Electron Transfer in Zinc Naphthalocyanine–Naphthalenediimide Supramolecular Dyads

Photoinduced electron transfer was studied in self‐assembled donor–acceptor dyads, formed by axial coordination of pyridine appended with naphthalenediimide (NDI) to zinc naphthalocyanine (ZnNc). The NDI‐py:ZnNc ( 1 ) and NDI(CH₂)₂‐py:ZnNc ( 2 ) self‐assembled dyads absorb light over a wide region of the UV/Vis/near infrared (NIR) spectrum. The formation constants of the dyads 1 and 2 in toluene were found to be 2.5×10⁴ and 2.2×10⁴ M ^?1, respectively, from the steady‐state absorption and emission measurements, suggesting moderately stable complex formation. Fluorescence quenching was observed upon the coordination of the pyridine‐appended NDI to ZnNc in toluene. The energy‐level diagram derived from electrochemical and optical data suggests that exergonic charge separation through the singlet state of ZnNc (¹ZnNc*) provides the main quenching pathway. Clear evidence for charge separation from the singlet state of ZnNc to NDI was provided by femtosecond laser photolysis measurements of the characteristic absorption bands of the ZnNc radical cation in the NIR region at 960 nm and the NDI radical anion in the visible region. The rates of charge‐separation of 1 and 2 were found to be 2.2×10¹⁰ and 4.4×10⁹ s^?1, respectively, indicating fast and efficient charge separation (CS). The rates of charge recombination (CR) and the lifetimes of the charge‐separated states were found to be 8.50×10⁸ s^?1 (1.2 ns) for 1 and 1.90×10⁸ s^?1 (5.3 ns) for 2 . These values indicate that the rates of the CS and CR processes decrease as the length of the spacer increases. Their absorption over a wide portion of the solar spectrum and the high ratio of the CS/CR rates suggests that the self‐assembled NDI‐py:ZnNc and NDI(CH₂)₂‐py:ZnNc dyads are useful as photosynthetic models.     

Photoinduced Charge Separation in a Donor–Spacer–Acceptor Dyad with N‐Annulated Perylene Donor and Methylviologen Acceptor

The first donor–acceptor species in which a strongly emissive N‐annulated perylene dye is connected to a methylviologen electron acceptor unit via its macrocyclic nitrogen atom, is prepared by a stepwise, modular procedure. The absorption spectra, redox behavior, spectroelectrochemistry and photophysical properties of this dyad and of its model species are investigated, also by pump–probe fs transient absorption spectroscopy. Photoinduced oxidative electron transfer from the excited state of the dyad, centered on the N‐annulated perylene subunit, to the appended methyviologen electron acceptor takes place in a few ps. The charge‐separated species recombines in 19 ps. Our results indicate that N‐annulated perylene can be connected to functional units by taking advantage of the macrocyclic nitrogen, an option never used until now, without losing their properties, so opening the way to new designing approaches.     

Tuning Optical and Electron Donor Properties by Peripheral Thio–Aryl Substitution of Subphthalocyanine: A New Series of Donor–Acceptor Hybrids for Photoinduced Charge Separation

Subphthalocyanine (SubPc), a unique ring‐reduced member of the common phthalocyanines family, although known for its higher absorptivity, reveals narrow absorption with peak maxima around 570 nm thus limiting its utility in light‐energy‐harvesting applications. In the present study, by peripheral thio–aryl substitution of SubPc macrocycle, the spectral properties have been modulated to extend the absorption and emission well into the visible/near‐IR region. Additionally, for α‐ring‐substituted derivatives, facile oxidation of SubPc was witnessed, thus making these derivatives better electron donors. Next, the preparation of donor–acceptor dyads containing the well‐known electron acceptor C₆₀ connected to the central boron atom of SubPc was accomplished by making use of the 1,3‐dipolar cycloaddition reaction. Control experiments and free‐energy calculations using the redox and spectral data suggested that the observed fluorescence quenching of SubPc in these dyads is due to electron transfer. Accordingly, transient spectral studies performed both in polar and nonpolar solvents conclusively proved electron transfer to be the quenching mechanism in these dyads. The measured rate constants by fitting kinetic data revealed efficient charge separation and charge recombination processes, suggesting that these dyads could be useful materials for the construction of light‐to‐electricity or light‐to‐fuel production devices.     

Ultrafast Photoinduced Electron Transfer and Charge Stabilization in Donor–Acceptor Dyads Capable of Harvesting Near‐Infrared Light

To harvest energy from the near‐infrared (near‐IR) and infrared (IR) regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, which constitutes nearly 70 % of the solar radiation, there is a great demand for near‐IR and IR light‐absorbing sensitizers that are capable of undergoing ultrafast photoinduced electron transfer when connected to a suitable electron acceptor. Towards achieving this goal, in the present study, we report multistep syntheses of dyads derived from structurally modified BF₂‐chelated azadipyrromethene (ADP; to extend absorption and emission into the near‐IR region) and fullerene as electron‐donor and electron‐acceptor entities, respectively. The newly synthesized dyads were fully characterized based on optical absorbance, fluorescence, geometry optimization, and electrochemical studies. The established energy level diagram revealed the possibility of electron transfer either from the singlet excited near‐IR sensitizer or singlet excited fullerene. Femtosecond and nanosecond transient absorption studies were performed to gather evidence of excited state electron transfer and to evaluate the kinetics of charge separation and charge recombination processes. These studies revealed the occurrence of ultrafast photoinduced electron transfer leading to charge stabilization in the dyads, and populating the triplet states of ADP, benzanulated‐ADP and benzanulated thiophene‐ADP in the respective dyads, and triplet state of C₆₀ in the case of BF₂‐chelated dipyrromethene derived dyad during charge recombination. The present findings reveal that these sensitizers are suitable for harvesting light energy from the near‐IR region of the solar spectrum and for building fast‐responding optoelectronic devices operating under near‐IR radiation input.     

Circular Photoinduced Electron Transfer in a Donor‐Acceptor‐Acceptor Triad

An electron‐donor‐acceptor‐acceptor (D‐A₁‐A₂) triad has been developed that provides the first proof‐of‐concept for a photoinitiated molecular circuit. After photoexcitation into an optical charge‐transfer transition between D and A₁, subsequent thermal electron‐transfer from A₁^.? to A₂ is followed by geometric rearrangement in the D^.+‐A₁‐A₂^.? charge‐separated state to form an ion‐pair contact. This facilitates “forward” charge recombination between A₂^.? and D^.+ to complete the molecular circuit with an estimated quantum efficiency of 4 % in toluene at 298 K.     

Light‐Driven Charge Separation in Isoxazolidine–Perylene Bisimide Dyads

A series of arrays for light‐driven charge separation is presented, in which perylene tetracarboxylic bisimide is the light‐absorbing chromophore and electron acceptor, whereas isoxazolidines are colourless electron donors, the electron‐releasing properties of which are increased with respect to the amino group by means of the α‐effect. Charge separation (CS) in toluene over a distance ranging from ≈10 to ≈16 Å, with efficiencies of ≈95 to ≈50 % and CS lifetimes from 300 ps to 15 ns, are demonstrated. In dichloromethane the charge recombination reaction is faster than charge separation, preventing accumulation of the CS state. The effects of solvent polarity and molecular structure are discussed in the frame of current theories.     

Ultrafast Photoinduced Charge Separation Leading to High‐Energy Radical Ion‐Pairs in Directly Linked Corrole–C60 and Triphenylamine–Corrole‐C60 Donor–Acceptor Conjugates

Closely positioned donor–acceptor pairs facilitate electron‐ and energy‐transfer events, relevant to light energy conversion. Here, a triad system TPACor‐C₆₀ , possessing a free‐base corrole as central unit that linked the energy donor triphenylamine ( TPA ) at the meso position and an electron acceptor fullerene (C₆₀) at the β‐pyrrole position was newly synthesized, as were the component dyads TPA‐Cor and Cor‐C₆₀ . Spectroscopic, electrochemical, and DFT studies confirmed the molecular integrity and existence of a moderate level of intramolecular interactions between the components. Steady‐state fluorescence studies showed efficient energy transfer from ¹ TPA* to the corrole and subsequent electron transfer from ¹corrole* to fullerene. Further studies involving femtosecond and nanosecond laser flash photolysis confirmed electron transfer to be the quenching mechanism of corrole emission, in which the electron‐transfer products, the corrole radical cation ( Cor^?+ in Cor‐C₆₀ and TPA‐Cor^?+ in TPACor‐C₆₀ ) and fullerene radical anion (C₆₀^??), could be spectrally characterized. Owing to the close proximity of the donor and acceptor entities in the dyad and triad, the rate of charge separation, k_CS, was found to be about 10¹¹ s^?1, suggesting the occurrence of an ultrafast charge‐separation process. Interestingly, although an order of magnitude slower than k_CS, the rate of charge recombination, k_CR, was also found to be rapid (k_CR≈10¹⁰ s^?1), and both processes followed the solvent polarity trend DMF>benzonitrile>THF>toluene. The charge‐separated species relaxed directly to the ground state in polar solvents while in toluene, formation of ³corrole* was observed, thus implying that the energy of the charge‐separated state in a nonpolar solvent is higher than the energy of ³corrole* being about 1.52 eV. That is, ultrafast formation of a high‐energy charge‐separated state in toluene has been achieved in these closely spaced corrole–fullerene donor–acceptor conjugates.     

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.     

Photoinduced Charge Separation in Zinc–Porphyrin/Tungsten–Alkylidyne Dyads: Generation of Reactive Porphyrin and Metallo Radical States

The luminescent tungsten–alkylidyne metalloligand [WCl(≡C‐4,4′‐C₆H₄CC‐py)(dppe)₂] ( 1 ; dppe=1,2‐bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane) and the zinc–tetraarylporphyrins ZnTPP and ZnTP_ClP (TPP=tetraphenylporphyrin, TP_ClP=tetra(p‐chlorophenyl)porphyrin) self‐assemble in fluorobenzene solution to form the dyads ZnTPP( 1 ) and ZnTP_ClP( 1 ), in which the metalloligand is axially coordinated to the porphyrin. Excitation of the porphyrin‐centered S₁ excited states of these dyads initiates intramolecular energy‐transfer (ZnPor→ 1 ) and electron‐transfer ( 1 →ZnPor) processes, which together efficiently quench the S₁ state (～90 %). Transient‐absorption spectroscopy and an associated kinetic analysis reveal that the net product of the energy‐transfer process is the ³[dπ*] state of coordinated 1 , which is formed by S₁→¹[dπ*] singlet–singlet (Förster) energy transfer followed by ¹[dπ*]→³[dπ*] intersystem crossing. The data also demonstrate that coordinated 1 reductively quenches the porphyrin S₁ state to produce the [ZnPor^?][ 1⁺ ] charge‐separated state. This is a rare example of the reductive quenching of zinc porphyrin chromophores. The presence in the [ZnPor^?][ 1⁺ ] charge‐separated states of powerfully reducing zinc–porphyrin radical anions, which are capable of sensitizing a wide range of reductive electrocatalysts, and the 1⁺ ion, which can initiate the oxidation of H₂, produces an integrated photochemical system with the thermodynamic capability of driving photoredox processes that result in the transfer of renewable reducing equivalents instead of the consumption of conventional sacrificial donors.     

Photoinduced Electron vs. Concerted Proton Electron Transfer Pathways in SnIV (l-Tryptophanato)2 Porphyrin Conjugates

Aromatic amino acids such as l -tyrosine and l -tryptophan are deployed in natural systems to mediate electron transfer (ET) reactions. While tyrosine oxidation is always coupled to deprotonation (proton-coupled electron-transfer, PCET), both ET-only and PCET pathways can occur in the case of the tryptophan residue. In the present work, two novel conjugates 1 and 2 , based on a Sn^IV tetraphenylporphyrin and Sn^IV octaethylporphyrin, respectively, as the chromophore/electron acceptor and l -tryptophan as electron/proton donor, have been prepared and thoroughly characterized by a combination of different techniques including single crystal X-ray analysis. The photophysical investigation of 1 and 2 in CH₂Cl₂ in the presence of pyrrolidine as a base shows that different quenching mechanisms are operating upon visible-light excitation of the porphyrin component, namely photoinduced electron transfer and concerted proton electron transfer (CPET), depending on the chromophore identity and spin multiplicity of the excited state. The results are compared with those previously described for metal-mediated analogues featuring Sn^IV porphyrin chromophores and l -tyrosine as the redox active amino acid and well illustrate the peculiar role of l -tryptophan with respect to PCET.     

Photoinduced Electron Transfer in an Amine–Corrole–Perylene Bisimide Assembly: Charge Separation over Terminal Components Favoured by Solvent Polarity

An assembly has been synthesised that consists of four units: a meso‐substituted corrole (C3), perylene bisimide (PI), and two electron‐rich triphenylamine (DPA) units. PI is connected through a 1,4‐phenylene bridge to C3, whereas the two DPA units are linked to C3 through a diphenyl ether linkage, which is used for the first time to connect the various moieties. Various synthetic strategies were elaborated, and the chosen one afforded the final system in six steps in an overall yield of 6 %. The resulting assembly, made of three different units, was named a “triad”. Excitation of the corrole (C3) or perylene bisimide (PI) units led to the charge‐separated state DPA‐C3⁺‐PI^? with a rate k>10¹¹ s^?1 in benzonitrile and dichloromethane (CH₂Cl₂) or with k of the order of 10¹⁰ s^?1 in toluene. The latter charge‐separated state decayed to the ground state with a rate k=1.8×10⁹ s^?1 in toluene. In the polar solvents benzonitrile and dichloromethane, recombination to the ground state competes with a charge shift to form the distal charge‐separated state, DPA⁺‐C3‐PI^?, the formation of which occurs with a yield of 50 %. Recombination to the ground state of DPA⁺‐C3‐PI^? occurs with a rate k=5×10⁷ s^?1 in CH₂Cl₂ and k=2×10⁷ s^?1 in benzonitrile.