CHARGE TRANSFER COMPLEXES OF PHEOPHYTIN a WITH NITROAROMATICS. ELECTRON TRANSFER FROM EXCITED SINGLET OF PHEOPHYTIN a TO NITROAROMATICS

Abstract— The interaction of pheophytin a (Pheo) with seven nitroaromatic acceptors of varying ring sizes and electron acceptor abilities has been studied both in the ground and excited states. The ground state association constants ( K ) of the 1: 1 complexes of donor (Pheo) and acceptors were found to increase with increasing electron affinities of the different acceptors. All the nitroaromatic compounds efficiently quench the singlet emission of Pheo and the quenching follows the Stern-Volmer (SV) relationship. The SV constants ( K _sv) for different quenchers follow the same order as that of the K values. The reduction potential of Pheo₊/Pheo_* obtained from the quenching data agrees well with the theoretically predicted value. A charge transfer interaction between the singlet excited state of Pheo and the nitroaromatics is suggested from the dependence of quenching rate constants on the electron affinities of the acceptors.