Spin chemical control of photoinduced electron-transfer processes in ruthenium(II)-trisbipyridine-based supramolecular triads: 2. The effect of oxygen, sulfur, and selenium as heteroatom in the azine donor

Structure and Photophysics of N-Tolanyl-phenochalcogenazines and their Radical Cations

The study focuses on the structural and photophysical characteristics of neutral and oxidized forms of N-tolanyl-phenochalcogenazines PZX-tolan with X=O, S, Se, and Te. X-ray crystal structure analyses show a pseudo-equatorial (pe) structure of the tolan substituent in the O, S, and Se dyads, while the Te dyad possesses a pseudo-axial (pa) structure. DFT calculations suggest the pe structure for O and S, and the pa structure for Se and Te as stable forms. Steady-state and femtosecond-time resolved optical spectroscopy in toluene solution indicate that the O and S dyads emit from a CT state, whereas the Se and Te dyads emit from a tolan-localized state. The T1 state is tolan-localized in all cases, showing phosphorescence at 77 K. The heavy atom effect of chalcogens induces intersystem crossing from S1 to Tx, resulting in a decreasing S1 lifetime from 2.1 ns to 0.42 ps. The T1 states possess potential for singlet oxygen sensitization with a high quantum yield (ca. 40 %) for the O, S, and Se dyads. Radical cations exhibit spin density primarily localized at the heterocycle. EPR measurements and quasirelativistic DFT calculations reveal a very strong g-tensor anisotropy, supporting the pe structure for the S and Se derivatives.

Shedding Light on the Oxidizing Properties of Spin-Flip Excited States in a CrIII Polypyridine Complex and Their Use in Photoredox Catalysis

The photoredox activity of well-known Ru^II complexes stems from metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) excited states, in which a ligand-based electron can initiate chemical reductions and a metal-centered hole can trigger oxidations. Cr^III polypyridines show similar photoredox properties, although they have fundamentally different electronic structures. Their photoactive excited state is of spin-flip nature, differing from the electronic ground state merely by a change of one electron spin, but with otherwise identical d-orbital occupancy. We find that the driving-force dependence for photoinduced electron transfer from 10 different donors to a spin-flip excited state of a Cr^III complex is very similar to that for a Ru^II polypyridine, and thereby validate the concept of estimating the redox potential of d³ spin-flip excited states in analogous manner as for the MLCT states of d⁶ compounds. Building on this insight, we use our Cr^III complex for photocatalytic reactions not previously explored with this compound class, including the aerobic bromination of methoxyaryls, oxygenation of 1,1,2,2-tetraphenylethylene, aerobic hydroxylation of arylboronic acids, and the vinylation of N-phenyl pyrrolidine. This work contributes to understanding the fundamental photochemical properties of first-row transition-metal complexes in comparison to well-explored precious-metal-based photocatalysts.

Spin-chemical effects on intramolecular photoinduced charge transfer reactions in bisphenanthroline copper(i)-viologen dyad assemblies

Two covalently linked donor-acceptor copper phenanthroline complexes (C-A dyads) of interest for solar energy conversion/storage schemes, [Cu(i)(Rphen(OMV)2 4+)2]9+ = RC+A4 8+ with RC+ = [Cu(i)Rphen2]+ involving 2,9-methyl (R = Me) or 2,9-phenyl (R = Ph)-phenanthroline ligands that are 5,6-disubstituted by 4-(n-butoxy) linked methylviologen electron acceptor groups (A2+ = OMV2+), have been synthesized and investigated via quantum chemical calculations and nanosecond laser flash spectroscopy in 1,2-difluorobenzene/methanol (dfb/MeOH) mixtures. Upon photoexcitation, charge transfer (CT) states RC2+A+A3 6+ are formed in less than one ns and decay by charge recombination on a time scale of 6-45 ns. The CT lifetime of RC2+A+A3 6+ has a strong dependence on MeOH solvent fraction when R = Me, but is unaffected if R = Ph. This solvent effect is due to coordination of MeOH solvent in MeC+A4 8+ (i.e. exciplex formation) allowed by conformational flattening of the ligand sphere, which cannot occur in PhC+A4 8+ having bulkier Phphen ligand framework. Interestingly, the decay time of the CT state increases for both species at low magnetic fields with a maximum increase of ca. 30% at ca. 150 mT, then decreases as the field is increased up to 1500 mT, the highest field investigated. This magnetic field effect (MFE) is due to magnetic modulation of the spin dynamics interconverting 3CT and 1CT states. A quantitative modeling according to the radical pair mechanism involving ab initio multireference calculations of the complexes revealed that the spin process is dominated by the effect of Cu hyperfine coupling. The external magnetic field suppresses the hyperfine coupling induced spin state mixing thereby lengthening the CT decay time. This effect is counteracted by the field dependent processes of T0-S mixing through the Δg-mechanism and by a local mode spin-orbit mechanism. Further, the maximum MFE is limited by a finite rate of direct recombination of 3CT states and the spin-rotational mechanism of spin relaxation. This study provides a first comprehensive characterization of Cu(ii)-complex spin chemistry and highlights how spin chemistry can be used to manipulate solar energy harvesting and storage materials.

Spin-dependent electron transfer dynamics in a platinum-complex-donor-acceptor triad studied by transient-absorption detected magnetic field effect

For realization of efficient organic light-energy conversion systems, controlling the lifetime of photogenerated charge separated states in donor (D)-acceptor (A) molecules is of much importance; the spin dynamics is one of the important controlling factors. We previously reported that the covalently-linked 1,3-bis(2-pyridylimino)-isoindolate platinum (BPIPt)-dimethoxytriphenylamine (D)-naphthaldiimide (A) triad molecule (BPIPt-DA) exhibits a triplet-born long-lived charge separated state (BPIPt-D^•+A^•-), the lifetime of which is significantly increased from 4 µs to 10 µs by an applied magnetic field of 270 mT in room temperature tetrahydrofuran (THF). The purpose of the present study is to clarify detailed dynamics of spin-dependent generation and the decay of BPIPt-D⁺A^-. For this purpose, we measured transient optical absorption (TA) and the TA-detected magnetic field effect (MFE) as functions of temperature and dispersion media. In THF at 183 K, MFE-detected transient spectra of the intermediate BPIPt^•--D^•+A state are observed. We have successfully quantified the recombination loss at this state by a kinetic simulation of MFE without using any reference molecules. The lifetime of the final BPIPt-D^•+A^•- state in a cellulose acetate polymer matrix at room temperature is significantly prolonged to 20 µs at 0 mT and 96 µs at 250 mT compared to those in THF. From the comparison of temperature dependences of the two media, effects of molecular motions on the electronic coupling and the spin relaxation are discussed.

Photoinduced Intercomponent Processes in Selectively Addressable Bichromophoric Dyads Made of Linearly Arranged Ru(II) Terpyridine and Expanded Pyridinium Components

Three new linearly arranged bichromophoric systems 1-3 have been prepared, and their photophysical properties have been studied, taking also advantage of femtosecond pump-probe transient absorption spectroscopy. The three compounds contain the same chromophores, that is a Ru(II)-terpy-like species and a fused expanded bipyridinium (FEBP) unit, separated by three different, variously methylated biphenylene-type bridges. The chromophores have been selected to be selectively addressable, and excitation involving the Ru-based or the FEBP-based dyes results in different excited-state decays. Upon Ru-based excitation at 570 nm, oxidative photoinduced electron transfer (OPET) takes place in 1-3 from the ³MLCT state; however, the charge-separated species does not accumulate, indicating that the charge recombination rate constant exceeds the OPET rate constant. Upon excitation of the organic dye at 400 nm, the FEBP-based ¹π-π* level is prepared, which undergoes a series of intercomponent decay events, including (i) electron-exchange energy transfer leading to the MLCT manifold (SS-EnT), which successively decays according to 570 nm excitation, and (ii) reductive photoinduced electron transfer (RPET), leading to the preparation of the charge-separated (CS) state. Reductive PET, involving the FEBP-based singlet state, is much faster than oxidative PET, involving the MLCT triplet state, essentially because of driving force reasons. The rate constant of CR is intermediate between the rate constants of OPET and RPET, and this makes 1-3 capable to selectively read the 400 nm excitation as an active input to prepare the CS state, whereas excitation at wavelengths longer than 480 nm is inefficient to accumulate the CS state. Moreover, intriguing differences between the rate constants of the various processes in 1-3 have been analyzed and interpreted according to the superexchange theory for electron transfer. This allowed us to uncover the role of the electron-transfer and hole-transfer superexchange pathways in promoting the various intercomponent photoinduced decay processes occurring in 1-3.

Fine tuning of electron transfer and spin chemistry parameters in triarylamine-bridge-naphthalene diimide dyads by bridge substituents

The photoinduced charge separation and charge recombination in a set of four molecular dyads consisting of a triarylamine donor and a naphthalene diimide acceptor were investigated by time resolved transient absorption spectroscopy with fs and ns time resolution. In these dyads the donor and acceptor are bridged by a meta-conjugated diethynylbenzene bridge whose electronic nature was tuned by small electron donating (OMe, Me) or electron withdrawing (Cl, CN) substituents. While the formation of the transient charge separated states is complete within tens of ps, charge recombination is biphasic with a shorter component of several hundred ns and a longer component of several microseconds. This behaviour could be rationalized by assuming an equilibrium of singlet and triplet charge separated states. Magnetic field dependent measurements showed a strong influence on the biphasic decay kinetics and also a pronounced level crossing effect in the magnetic field affected reaction yield (MARY) spectra caused by a significant exchange coupling. An analysis of the observed kinetics using classical kinetic rate equations yields rate constants for charge separation and charge recombination as well as the exchange interaction splitting in the radical ion pair, all of them showing a delicate dependence on the bridge substituents.

Photoinduced multistep charge separation in a heteroleptic Cu(I) bis(phenanthroline)-based donor-chromophore-acceptor triad

A molecular triad assembly consisting of an electron donor, a bis(phenanthroline)copper(I) chromophore, and an electron acceptor has been prepared. Under visible-light excitation, this assembly undergoes efficient (ca. 50%) photoinduced, multistep formation of a diradical cation charge-separated state that has a lifetime of >100 ns and stores >1.0 eV of energy. This system constitutes an earth-abundant functional analogue of related Ru(bpy)(3) triad systems.