Energy and electron transfer in bifunctional non-conjugated dendrimers

Nonconjugated dendrimers, which are capable of funneling energy from the periphery to the core followed by a charge-transfer process from the core to the periphery, have been synthesized. The energy and electron donors involve a diarylaminopyrene unit and are incorporated at the periphery of these dendrimers. The energy and electron acceptor is at the core of the dendrimer, which involves a chromophore based on a benzthiadiazole moiety. The backbone of the dendrimers is benzyl ether based. A direct electron-transfer quenching of the excited state of the periphery or a sequential energy transfer-electron-transfer pathway are the two limiting mechanisms of the observed photophysical properties. We find that the latter mechanism is prevalent in these dendrimers. The energy transfer occurs on a picosecond time scale, while the charge-transfer process occurs on a nanosecond time scale. The lifetime of the charge separated species was found to be in the range of microseconds. Energy transfer efficiencies ranging from 80% to 90% were determined using both steady-state and time-resolved measurements, while charge-transfer efficiencies ranging from 70% to 80% were deduced from fluorescence quenching of the core chromophore. The dependence of the energy and charge-transfer processes on dendrimer generation is analyzed in terms of the backfolding of the flexible benzyl ether backbone, which leads to a weaker dependence of the energy and charge-transfer efficiencies on dendrimer size than would be expected for a rigid system.