Photoinduced electron transfer in double-bridged porphyrin-fullerene triads

Electron and energy transfer reactions of porphyrin-porphyrin-fullerene triads (P2P1C) with controllable sandwich-like structures have been studied using spectroscopic and electrochemical methods. The stabile, stacked structure of the molecules was achieved applying a two-linker strategy developed previously for porphyrin-fullerene dyads. Different triad structures with altered linker positions, linker lengths, and center atoms of the porphyrin rings were studied. The final charge-separated (CS) state and the different transient states of the reactions have been identified and energies of the states estimated based on the experimental results. In particular, a complete CS state P2(+) P1C- was achieved in a zinc porphyrin-free-base porphyrin-fullerene triad (ZnP2t9P1C) in both polar (benzonitrile) and nonpolar (toluene) solvents. The lifetime of this state was longer living in the nonpolar solvent. An outstanding feature of the ZnP2t9P1C triad is the extremely fast formation of the final CS state, P2(+) P1C-. This state is formed after primary excitation of either zinc porphyrin or free-base porphyrin chromophores in less than 200 fs. Although the intermediate steps between the locally excited states and the final CS state were not time-resolved for this compound, the process is clearly multistep and the fastest ever observed for porphyrin-based compounds.     

Exciplex mediated photoinduced electron transfer reactions of phthalocyanine-fullerene dyads

Evidences of an intramolecular exciplex intermediate in a photoinduced electron transfer (ET) reaction of double-linked free-base and zinc phthalocyanine-C60 dyads were found. This was the first time for a dyad with phthalocyanine donor. Excitation of the phthalocyanine moiety of the dyads results in rapid ET from phthalocyanine to fullerene via an exciplex state in both polar and nonpolar solvents. Relaxation of the charge-separated (CS) state Pc(*+)-C60(*-) in a polar solvent occurs directly to the ground state in 30-70 ps. In a nonpolar solvent, roughly 20% of the molecules undergo transition from the CS state to phthalocyanine triplet state (3)Pc*-C60 before relaxation to the ground state. Formation of the CS state was confirmed with electron spin resonance measurements at low temperature in both polar and nonpolar solvent. Reaction schemes for the photoinduced ET reactions of the dyads were completed with rate constants obtained from the time-resolved absorption and emission measurements and with state energies obtained from the fluorescence, phosphorescence, and voltammetric measurements.     

Fullerenes linked to photosynthetic pigments

The synthesis and photochemical characterization of two porphyrin-fullerene dyads, two zinc porphyrin-fullerene dyads, and a carotenobuckminsterfullerene are reviewed. In these molecules, the fullerene first excited singlet state may be formed by direct excitation or by singlet-singlet energy transfer from the attached pigment. In polar solvents, the dominant singlet-state decay pathway is photoinduced electron transfer to yield the pigment radical cation and fullerene radical anion. This charge-separated state has a long lifetime relative to the time constant for charge separation. In toluene, in cases where photoinduced electron transfer is slow for thermodynamic reasons, the fullerene singlet state decays by intersystem crossing, and the resulting triplet energy is partitioned between the components of the dyad according to their triplet energies. The results suggest that fullerenes can be valuable components of photochemically active multicomponent molecular systems.     

Highly Polarized Coumarin Derivatives Revisited: Solvent-Controlled Competition Between Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer and Twisted Intramolecular Charge Transfer

Linking a polarized coumarin unit with an aromatic substituent via an amide bridge results in weak electronic coupling that affects the intramolecular electron-transfer (ET) process. As a result of this, interesting solvent-dependent photophysical properties can be observed. In polar solvents, electron transfer in coumarin derivatives of this type induces a mutual twist of the electron-donating and -accepting molecular units (TICT process) that facilitates radiationless decay processes (internal conversion). In the dyad with the strongest intramolecular hydrogen bond, the planar form is stabilized, such that twisting can only occur in highly polar solvents, whereas a fast proton-coupled electron-transfer (PCET process) occurs in nonpolar n-alkanes. The k_PCET rate constant decreases linearly with the energy of the fluorescence maximum in different solvents. This observation can be explained in terms of competition between electron- and proton-transfer from a highly polarized (ca. 15 D) and fluorescent locally excited (¹LE) state to a much less polarized (ca. 4 D) charge-transfer (¹CT) state, a unique occurrence. Photophysical measurements performed for a family of related coumarin dyads, together with results of quantum-chemical computations, give insight into the mechanism of the ET process, which is followed by either a TICT or a PCET process. Our results reveal that dielectric solvation of the excited state slows down the PCET process, even in nonpolar solvents.     

The magnetic field effect in the presence of the electric field on fluorescence of a methylene-linked compound of pyrene and n,n-dimethylaniline doped in a polymer film

Recent experimental data by Mizoguchi and Ohta are analyzed under the assumption of fast equilibrium between the locally excited (LE), radical-ion-pair (RIP), and exciplex states. In the absence of the equilibrium, no magnetic field effect on the LE fluorescence would be observed. Owing to the equilibrium, the relative electric-field-induced changes of the quantum yields of the LE and exciplex emissions as functions of the magnetic field are linearly connected to each other. The electric field shifts the equilibrium from the LE state toward the RIP state. Predictions are made for the magnetic field effect on the fluorescence kinetics.     

Effect of anion ligation on electron transfer of double-linked zinc porphyrin-fullerene dyad

The interaction between metalloporphyrins and their axial ligands plays an important role in the electron transfer (ET) processes in which the excited porphyrin participates. An efficient photoinduced ET reaction of a double-linked zinc(II) porphyrin-fullerene dyad was demonstrated in ionic environment. The chloride ion of tetrabutylammonium chloride (TBACl) electrolyte solution ligates the zinc porphyrin moiety in the dyad which results in a red shift of the absorption bands and lowers the energy of the charge-separated state by about 0.26 eV as compared to the nonligated dyad. Excitation of the porphyrin chromophore results in ET from porphyrin to fullerene in a moderately polar solvent, anisole. In nonionic and nonligating ionic environments, the ET reaction occurs through an intermediate state, an intramolecular exciplex, which has emission in the near-infrared region of the spectrum. This emission is not observed directly for the dyad in TBACl/anisole solution, but evidence of the exciplex intermediate was seen in the time-resolved measurements. The lower energy of the charge-separated state in the ligated environment explains the different ET reaction rates determined in the spectroscopic studies: the charge recombination process of the ligated dyad is about 5 times faster than that of the nonligated one.     

Chlorin–Bacteriochlorin Energy‐transfer Dyads as Prototypes for Near‐infrared Molecular Imaging Probes: Controlling Charge‐transfer and Fluorescence Properties in Polar Media

The photophysical properties of two energy‐transfer dyads that are potential candidates for near‐infrared (NIR) imaging probes are investigated as a function of solvent polarity. The dyads ( FbC‐FbB and ZnC‐FbB ) contain either a free base (Fb) or zinc (Zn) chlorin (C) as the energy donor and a free base bacteriochlorin (B) as the energy acceptor. The dyads were studied in toluene, chlorobenzene, 1,2‐dichlorobenzene, acetone, acetonitrile and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). In both dyads, energy transfer from the chlorin to bacteriochlorin occurs with a rate constant of ～(5–10 ps)^?1 and a yield of >99% in nonpolar and polar media. In toluene, the fluorescence yields (Φ _f = 0.19) and singlet excited‐state lifetimes (τ～5.5 ns) are comparable to those of the benchmark bacteriochlorin. The fluorescence yield and excited‐state lifetime decrease as the solvent polarity increases, with quenching by intramolecular electron (or hole) transfer being greater for FbC‐FbB than for ZnC‐FbB in a given solvent. For example, the Φ _f and τ values for FbC‐FbB in acetone are 0.055 and 1.5 ns and in DMSO are 0.019 and 0.28 ns, whereas those for ZnC‐FbB in acetone are 0.12 and 4.5 ns and in DMSO are 0.072 and 2.4 ns. The difference in fluorescence properties of the two dyads in a given polar solvent is due to the relative energies of the lowest energy charge‐transfer states, as assessed by ground‐state redox potentials and supported by molecular‐orbital energies derived from density functional theory calculations. Controlling the extent of excited‐state quenching in polar media will allow the favorable photophysical properties of the chlorin–bacteriochlorin dyads to be exploited in vivo. These properties include very large Stokes shifts (85 nm for FbC‐FbB , 110 nm for ZnC‐FbB ) between the red‐region absorption of the chlorin and the NIR fluorescence of the bacteriochlorin (λ _f = 760 nm), long bacteriochlorin excited‐state lifetime (～5.5 ns), and narrow (≤20 nm) absorption and fluorescence bands. The latter will facilitate selective excitation/detection and multiprobe applications using both intensity‐ and lifetime‐imaging techniques.     

Probing the donor-acceptor proximity on the physicochemical properties of porphyrin-fullerene dyads: "tail-on" and "tail-off" binding approach.

A new approach of probing proximity effects in porphyrin-fullerene dyads by using an axial ligand coordination controlled "tail-on" and "tail-off" binding mechanism is reported. In the newly synthesized porphyrin-fullerene dyads for this purpose, the donor-acceptor proximity is controlled either by temperature variation or by an axial ligand replacement method. In o-dichlorobenzene, 0.1 M (TBA)ClO(4), the synthesized zincporphyrin-fullerene dyads exhibit seven one-electron reversible redox reactions within the accessible potential window of the solvent and the measured electrochemical redox potentials and UV-visible absorption spectra reveal little or no ground-state interactions between the C(60) spheroid and porphyrin pi-system. The proximity effects on the photoinduced charge separation and charge recombination are probed by both steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence techniques. It is observed that in the "tail-off" form the charge-separation efficiency changes to some extent in comparison with the results obtained for the "tail-on" form, suggesting the presence of some through-space interactions between the singlet excited zinc porphyrin and the C(60) moiety in the "tail-off" form. The charge separation rates and efficiencies are evaluated from the fluorescence lifetime studies. The charge separation via the singlet excited states of zinc porphyrin in the studied dyads is also confirmed by the quick rise-decay of the anion radical of the C(60) moiety within 20 ns. Furthermore, a long-lived ion pair with lifetime of about 1000 ns is also observed in the investigated zinc porphyrin-C(60) dyads.     

Synthesis and photophysics of porphyrin-fullerene donor-acceptor dyads with conformationally flexible linkers

The synthesis and photophysics of a series of porphyrin-fullerene (P-C₆₀) dyads in which the two chromophores are linked by conformationally flexible polyether chains is reported. Molecular modeling indicates the two moieties adopt a stacked conformation in which the two chromophores are in close proximity. Photoexcitation of the free base dyads in polar solvents such as tetrahydrofuran and benzonitrile, causes electron transfer (ET) to generate charge-separated radical pair (CSRP) states, which were directly detected using transient absorption (TA) techniques. In nonpolar solvents such as toluene, where CSRP states were not directly detected, fullerene triplet state states were formed, according to TA studies as well as singlet oxygen sensitization measurements. The low value of the quantum efficiency for sensitized formation of singlet molecular oxygen [O₂(¹Δ_g)] in toluene and chloroform indicates that singlet energy transduction to give H₂P-¹C₆₀*, followed by intersystem crossing to H₂P-³C₆₀* and energy transfer to ³O₂, is not the operative mechanism. Rather, a mechanism is proposed involving ET to give CSRP states followed by exergonic charge recombination to eventually generate fullerene triplets. Such a mechanism has been demonstrated experimentally for structurally related P-C₆₀ dyads. For the corresponding ZnP-C₆₀ dyads with flexible linkers, only photoinduced ET to generate long-lived CSRP states is observed. Photoinduced charge separation in these dyad systems is extremely rapid, consistent with a through space rather than through-bond mechanism. Charge recombination is up to three orders of magnitude slower, indicating this process occurs in the inverted region of the Marcus curve that relates ET rates to the thermodynamic driving force. These observations once again demonstrate the advantages of incorporating fullerenes as electron acceptor components in photosynthetic model systems.     

Corrole-fullerene dyads: formation of long-lived charge-separated states in nonpolar solvents

The first example of covalently linked free-base corrole-fullerene dyads is reported. In the newly synthesized dyads, the free-energy calculations performed by employing the redox and singlet excited-state energy in both polar and nonpolar solvents suggested the possibility of electron transfer from the excited singlet state of corrole to the fullerene entity. Accordingly, steady-state and time-resolved emission studies revealed efficient fluorescence quenching of the corrole entity in the dyads. Further studies involving femtosecond laser flash photolysis and nanosecond transient absorption studies confirmed electron transfer to be the quenching mechanism, in which the electron-transfer product, the fullerene anion radical, was able to be spectrally characterized. The rate of charge separation, kCS, was found to be on the order of 10(10)-10(11) s(-1), suggesting an efficient photoinduced electron-transfer process. Interestingly, the rate of charge recombination, kCR, was slower by 5 orders of magnitude in nonpolar solvents, cyclohexane and toluene, resulting in a radical ion-pair lasting for several microseconds. Careful analysis of the kinetic and thermodynamic data using the Marcus approach revealed that this novel feature is due to appropriately positioning the energy level of the charge-separated state below the triplet states of either of the donor and acceptor entities in both polar and nonpolar solvents, a feature that was not evident in donor-acceptor dyads constructed using symmetric tetrapyrroles as electron donors.     

Photoinduced intermolecular and intramolecular actions between eosin and porphyrin

Two dyads of eosin and porphyrin linked with a semi-rigid (-CH2phCH2-) or flexible (-(CH2)4-) bridge and their reference model compounds were synthesized and characterized The intermoleccular interaction and intramolecular photoinduced singlet energy transfer and electron transfer were studied by their absorp tion spectra,fluorescence emission,excitation spectra and fluorescence lifetime The model compounds,ethyl ester of eosm (EoEt) and porphyrin (PorEt),could form complexes in the ground state.When the eosin moieties in dyads were excited,they could transfer some singlet energy to the porphyrins; in the meantime,they could also ndsce electron transfer between two chromophores.Exciting the porphyrin moieties in dyads could induce electron transfer from eosin moieties to porphyrin moieties.The efficiencies (EnT,ET) and rate constants (kEnT,kET) were related to the polarity of solvents and mutual orientation of the two chromophores in dyads.     

三分子激基复合物的研究

本文证实了苊与1,4-二氰基苯(DCB)可以形成激基复合物,同时当苊的浓度较大时,也可以生成三分子的激基复合物。此外还证明了聚苊可以生成非相邻的激基缔合物,聚苊与DCB也可以生成三分子激基复合物。通过光物理过程的动力学推导,证明在聚苊体系中,先生成(DA)^*,然后再形成(DDA)^*三分子激基复合物。     

EXCIPLEX FORMATION OF A POLYESTER WITH A TEREPHTHALATE MAIN CHAIN HAVING A PENDANT N, N-DIMETHYLAMINO GROUP

The fluorescence behaviours of a new polymer poly [oxy-2 (4-N, N-dimethylaminobenzyl) propane-1 , 3-diyloxy-terephthaloyl] (Ⅰ) in solution were studied. Inter-and intra -molecular exciplex is formed between the singlet excited state of N, N- dimethylanilino group (abbreviated to DMA) and the ground state of terephthalate group (abbreviated to TP). The intensity ratio of the long wavelength exciplex fluorescence to the short wavelength emission of DMA group is used as an index for the inter-and intra-molecular interaction of chromophores. The results are compared with model polymer polyoxy-2-(4-N ,N-dimethylaminobenzyl) propanc-1 , 3-diyloxyadipoyl (Ⅱ), model monomer compound 4-N, N-dimethylaminobenzylmethyl terephthalate(Ⅲ) and diethyl 2-( 4-N, N-dimethylaminobenzyl) malonate (Ⅳ). Polymer association derived by electron donor and acceptor interaction (EDA) is further verified as a key role in the interpolymer exciplex formation . The fluorescence decay time of (Ⅰ) and monomer (Ⅲ) are measured in solutions.     

Highly Efficient Singlet–Singlet Energy Transfer in Light‐Harvesting [60,70]Fullerene–4‐Amino‐1,8‐naphthalimide Dyads

New C₆₀ and C₇₀ fullerene dyads formed with 4‐amino‐1,8‐naphthalimide chromophores have been prepared by the Bingel cyclopropanation reaction. The resulting monoadducts were investigated with respect to their fluorescence properties (quantum yields and lifetimes) to unravel the role of the charge‐transfer naphthalimide chromophore as a light‐absorbing antenna and excited‐singlet‐state sensitizer of fullerenes. The underlying intramolecular singlet–singlet energy transfer (EnT) process was fully characterized and found to proceed quantitatively (Φ_EnT≈1) for all dyads. Thus, these conjugates are of considerable interest for applications in which fullerene excited states have to be created and photonic energy loss should be minimized. In polar solvents (tetrahydrofuran and benzonitrile), fluorescence quenching of the fullerene by electron transfer from the ground‐state aminonaphthalimide was postulated as an additional path.     

The Importance of Excited‐State Energy Alignment for Efficient Exciplex Systems Based on a Study of Phenylpyridinato Boron Derivatives

Understanding excited‐state dynamics is critical for improving the photoluminescence (PL) efficiency of exciplexes. A series of exciplexes based on conventional hole‐transporting materials as donor and newly developed phenylpyridinato boron derivatives as acceptor were investigated. High PL efficiencies were achieved in only some combinations, and a large difference in performance among combinations provided insight into nonradiative processes in exciplex systems. Furthermore, the triplet local excited states (³LE) of each donor and acceptor were found play an important role in triplet exciplex harvesting. Significant contributions from triplets were clearly observed when the charge‐transfer excited states (¹CT and ³CT) and ³LE were ideally aligned. We also demonstrated fine control of relative energy alignment via the concentration to improve the PL efficiency.     

Intramolecular exciplex and intermolecular excimer formation of 1,8-naphthalimide-linker-phenothiazine dyads

Steady-state fluorescence spectra were measured for 1,8-naphthahlimide-linker-phenothiazine dyads (NI-L-PTZ, where L = octamethylenyl ((CH2)8) and 3,6,9-trioxaundecyl ((CH2CH2O)3C2H4)), NI-C8-PTZ and NI-O-PTZ, as well as the NI derivatives substituted on the nitrogen atom with various linker groups without PTZ as the reference NI molecule in n-hexane. Normal fluorescence peaks were observed at 367-369 nm in all NI molecules together with a broader emission around 470 nm, which is assigned to the excimer emission between the NI in the singlet excited state (1NI*) and the NI moiety of another NI molecule (1[NI/NI]*). In addition, a broad peak around 600 nm was observed only for NI-L-PTZ, which is assigned to an intramolecular exciplex emission between donor (PTZ) and acceptor (NI) moieties in the excited singlet state, 1[NI-L-NI]*. The formation of an intramolecular exciplex corresponds to the existence of a conformer with a weak face-to-face interaction between the NI and PTZ moieties in the excited state because of the long and flexible linkers. The excited-state dynamics of the NI molecules in n-hexane were established by means of time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy.     

Microenvironmental polarity control of electron-transfer photochirogenesis. Enantiodifferentiating polar addition of 1,1-diphenyl-1-alkenes photosensitized by saccharide naphthalenecarboxylates

Enantiodifferentiating polar photoaddition of alcohol to 1,1-diphenylpropene and 1,1-diphenyl-1-butene sensitized by saccharide naphthalene(di)carboxylates was performed in nonpolar to polar solvents containing methanol, ethanol, or 2-propanol as the nucleophile to give the corresponding anti-Markovnikov alcohol adduct, that is, 1,1-diphenyl-2-alkoxy-propane and -butane in low-to-good chemical yields, depending on the sensitizer, chiral auxiliary, alcohol, solvent, and temperature employed. The excited state and intermediate involved, the reaction and enantiodifferentiation mechanism operating, and the factors controlling chemical and optical yields were elucidated from the photochemical and stereochemical outcomes under various conditions and also from the sensitizer and exciplex fluorescence quenching experiments and the molecular orbital calculations. A new strategy was developed to overcome the normally accepted tradeoff between the chemical and optical yields. This is made possible by employing protected saccharides as chiral auxiliaries and running the photoreactions not in a nonpolar but in a low-polarity solvent such as diethyl ether, which jointly enhance the "microenvironmental" polarity around the sensitizer to facilitate electron transfer, keeping the intimate interactions between the chiral sensitizer and substrate within the exciplex intermediate. By optimizing these factors, we obtained the photoadduct in enantiomeric excesses of up to 58%, which is the highest ever reported for a photosensitized bimolecular enantiodifferentiating reaction.     

Theoretical study on the photochemical behavior of 4-(dimethylamino)benzonitrile

Ab initio calculations have been performed to examine the photochemical behavior of 4-(dimethylamino)benzenzonitrile (DMABN). The conical intersection between S2 and S1 (S2/S1-CIX), where the internal conversion takes place after the main transition of S0-S2 at the equilibrium geometry in S0, is characterized by a dimethylamino-twisted quinoid structure where aromaticity of the benzene ring is lost. The optimized geometry of the charge transfer (CT) state in S1 has a feature similar to that of S2/S1-CIX but is not energetically stabilized so much. Consequently, electronically excited DMABN with CT character relaxes into the most stable locally excited (LE) state in S1 through a recrossing at S2/S1-CIX in gas phase or nonpolar solvent. In polar solvent, in contrast, the equilibration between LE and CT takes place in S1 so that the CT state is more stable because of electrostatic interaction. The excited states of DMABN derivatives have been also examined. On the basis of the present computational results, a new and simple guiding principle of the emission properties is proposed, where conventional twisted intramolecular CT (TICT) and planar intramolecular CT (PICT) models are properly incorporated.     

The structure and decay dynamics of exciplexes derived from dibenzoyl-methanatoboron difluoride and alkylbenzenes in cyclohexane

Dibenzomethanatoboron difluoride (DBMBF2) interacted with alkylbenzenes from its singlet excited state to form exciplexes ranging from weak polarity up to contact radical ion pairs (CRIP); this exciplex series shows the characteristics in the Marcus "normal" region. In cyclohexane these exciplexes gave intense fluorescence spectra and high quantum yields (phi(infinity)ex). The dipole moment of these exciplexes calculated from the solvatochromic shift of the fluorescence maximums (vmax) was used to estimate the coefficient ("a" and "c") of the CT and LE terms in the exciplex wavefunction. On the basis of the measured lifetimes and phi(infinity)ex of these exciplexes, the radiative (k(ex)f) and nonradiative (k(ex)NR) rate constants were calculated. The former k(ex)f were also computed from a semi-empirical approach based on the assumption that the exciplex wavefunction could be adequately described by CT and LE states, and that *DBMBF2 primarily contributes to the probability of exciplex emission. Two results agree with each other with small systematic deviations for those less polar exciplexes. The plots of k(ex)r and k(ex)NR (or their logarithmic value) against the LE contribution (c2) and transition energy gaps (hvmax) afford better correlation than those against -deltaG(-et). This indicates the role played by the LE contribution in generating the stabilization energy (U(s)) in these exciplexes through the A-D+)<==> *AD) resonance interaction; U(s), in turn, modifies -deltaG(-et) to afford the decay driving force hvmax. Also, those plots from k(ex)f values (being determined directly from experiments) show better correlation than those from k(ex)NR. In contrast to the CRIP type exciplexes in the Marcus "inverted" region, these k(ex)f and k(ex)NR increase in the common trend with increasing transition energy gaps. The k(ex)NR plots show less steep slopes and attains more quickly a minimum toward the CRIP region; the latter is identified as the turning point from the "normal" to "inverted" region. Both the attenuation and reversal of the k(ex)NR value with increasing polarity are believed to be generated by the emerging contribution of the intersystem crossing process as an additional nonradiative process, which is induced by the increased spin-orbit coupling in highly polar exciplexes.     

磺酰脒基桥连的锌卟啉-富勒烯化合物构型对光诱导电子转移机理的影响

通过"一锅法"多组分偶联反应合成了一种新型磺酰脒基桥连的卟啉-富勒烯化合物ZnP-H-C₆₀. 该化合物具有Z式和E式2种异构体, 其中Z式异构体中含有分子内氢键. 光物理研究结果表明, 2种异构体中的卟啉与富勒烯之间都可以发生光诱导电子转移, 但其相应的电子转移机理却完全不同. 在Z式异构体中, 卟啉或富勒烯被激发后直接发生电荷分离而形成电荷分离态, 其电荷分离机理是通过氢键进行电子传递; 在E式异构体中, 由于卟啉和富勒烯之间存在空间电子相互作用, 被激发后先形成卟啉-富勒烯激基复合物, 再进一步发生电荷分离形成电荷分离态, 电荷分离通过空间电子转移实现.