Intramolecular Photoinduced Energy and Electron Transfer Reactions in Phenanthroimidazole-Boron Dipyromethane Donor-Acceptor Dyads

Donor-acceptor systems in which a donor phenanthroimidazole (PhI) is directly connected to a BODIPY acceptor (Dyad1) and separated by an ethynyl bridge between PhI and BODIPY (Dyad2) have been designed, synthesized, and characterized by various spectroscopic and electrochemical techniques. Optical absorption and 1H NMR characteristics of both dyads with those of constituent individuals suggest that there exists a minimum π-π interaction between phenanthroimidazole and BODIPY. Quenched emission of both the dyads was observed when excited either at phenthaoimidazole absorption maxima or at BODIPY absorption maxima in all three investigated solvents. The detailed spectral analysis provided evidence for an intramolecular photoinduced excitation energy transfer (PEnT) from the singlet excited state of phenanthroimidazole to BODIPY and photoinduced electron transfer (PET) from the ground state of phenanthroimidazole to BODIPY. Transient absorption studies suggest that charge-separated species (PhI•+ - BODIPY•-) are generated at a rate constant of (1.16 ± 0.01) × 108 s-1 for the dyads Dyad1 and (5.15 ± 0.03) × 108 s-1 and for Dyad2 whereas energy transfer rate constants were much higher and were on the order of (1.1 ± 0.02) × 1010 s-1 and (1.6 ± 0.02) × 1010 s-1 for Dyad1 and Dyad2, respectively, signifying their usefulness in light energy harvesting applications.

Photo-induced intramolecular electron transfer in phenoxazine-phthalocyanine donor-acceptor systems

Donor-Acceptor (D-A) systems based on phenoxazine – phthalocyanine (PXZ-Pc) and phenoxazine – zinc phthalocyanine (PXZ-ZnPc) have been designed and synthesized. Both D-A systems are characterized using various spectroscopic and electrochemical techniques including in-situ methods. Optical absorption studies suggest that both Soret and Q bands of these D-A systems are hypsochromically and bathochromically shifted, when compared to its individual constituents. The study supported by theoretical calculations shows clearly that there exists a negligible electronic communication in the ground state between donor phenoxazine and acceptor phthalocyanine. However, attractively, both D-A systems exhibit noteworthy fluorescence emission quenching (90–99%) of the phthalocyanine emission compared to its reference compounds. The fluorescence emission quenching featured at the excited-state intramolecular photoinduced electron transfer from ground state of phenoxazine to the excited state of phthalocyaine/zinc phthalocyanine. The rates of electron-transfer ([Formula: see text] of these D-A systems are found in the range of 5.7 × 108 to 2.8 × 109 s[Formula: see text] and are according to solvent polarity.

Light induced intramolecular energy and electron transfer events in carbazole–corrole and phenothiazine-corrole dyads

We report two corrole based donor–acceptor (D–A) dyads, Cbz-Cor and Ptz-Cor to understand the energy/electron transfer reactions. In these D–A systems, the donor, either carbazole (Cbz) or phenothiazine (Ptz), is covalently connected at the meso-phenyl position of 10-(phenyl)-5,15-bis-(pentafluorophenyl)corrole (Ph-Cor) by C–N linkage. Both the dyads were characterized by 1H NMR, MALDI-TOF MS, UV-vis, electrochemical, computational methods, study state fluorescence and TCSPC techniques. A comparison of absorption spectra with their reference monomeric compounds (Cbz-Ph, Ptz-Ph and Ph-Cor) revealed minimal ground-state interactions between chromophores in both dyads. Fluorescence studies suggested that singlet–singlet energy transfer from 1Cbz* to corrole is the major photochemical pathway in the Cbz-Cor dyad with a quenching efficiency of [Formula: see text]99%. Detailed analysis of the data suggests that Forster’s dipole–dipole mechanism does not adequately explain this energy transfer. However, at a 410 nm excitation, florescence quenching is detected in Ptz-Cor (49%) supporting a photo induced electron transfer (PET) process from the ground state of PTZ to the excited state of corrole macrocycle. The electron-transfer rates ([Formula: see text] of Ptz-Cor are found in the range [Formula: see text] to [Formula: see text] and are concluded to be solvent dependent.

Rational Synthesis of 5,5,5-Tricyclic Fused Thia-heptaphyrin (1.1.1.1.1.1.0) From a Helical Oligopyrrin Hybrid

Oxidation of a thiophene-hexapyrrane hybrid S-P₆ afforded a stable conjugated open-chain thiaheptapyrrolic helix 1 with the terminal thiophene and confused pyrrole units lying at a long distance that is adverse for further cyclization. Chelation of 1 with copper(II) ion afforded 1-Cu, which exhibits more distant terminal units. Interestingly, further oxidation of 1 triggered an intramolecular C-N fusion reaction to afford a unique 5,5,5-tricyclic fused linear thiaheptapyrrin 2, with the two terminals positioned in proximity, which favors the oxidative ring-closure reaction to give a unique 5,5,5-tricyclic fused thiaheptaphyrin (1.1.1.1.1.1.0) 3 under air. The inner-fusion strategy for positioning the reactive sites in proximity to promote oxidative cyclization offers a new approach for constructing large porphyrinoids through conjugated oligopyrrins without the assistance of metal ions.

Tuning Chemical and Physical Properties of Phosphorus Corroles for Advanced Applications

Although the affinity of metallocorroles to axial ligands is quite low, this is not the case when the chelated element is phosphorus. This work is hence focused on the mechanism of ligand exchange of six-coordinate phosphorus corroles as a tool for affecting their chemical and physical properties. These fundamental investigations allowed for the development of facile methodologies for the synthesis of a large series of complexes and the establishment of several new structure/activity profiles that may be used to understand and predict spectroscopic features and for tailor-made modification of photophysical and electrochemical properties. This is exemplified by the facile access to complexes with terminal groups that are of large potential for practical applications based on click chemistry, optical imaging, and surface science.

Phosphorus corrole complexes: from property tuning to applications in photocatalysis and triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion

Efficient triplet photosensitizers are important for fundamental photochemical studies and applications such as triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion (TTA UC), photoredox catalytic organic reactions and photovoltaics. We now report a series of phosphorus corrole compounds as efficient visible light-harvesting metal-free triplet photosensitizers. While the heavy-atom-free phosphorus corroles show absorption in the visible spectral region (centered at 573 nm) and have a decent triplet state quantum yield (Φ _Δ = 49%), iodo-substitution on the corrole core induces red-shifted absorption (589 nm) and improves intersystem crossing significantly (Φ _Δ = 67%). Nanosecond transient absorption spectra confirm triplet state formation upon photoexcitation (τ _T = 312 μs) and the iodinated derivatives also display near IR phosphorescence in fluid solution at room temperature (λ _em = 796 nm, τ _p = 412 μs). Both singlet oxygen (¹O₂) and superoxide radical anions (O₂ ^-˙) may be produced with the phosphorus corroles, which are competent photocatalysts for the oxidative coupling of benzylamine (the Aza Henry reaction). Very efficient TTA UC was observed with the phosphorus corroles as triplet photosensitizers and perylene as the triplet acceptor, with upconversion quantum yields of up to Φ _UC = 38.9% (a factor of 2 was used in the equation) and a very large anti-Stokes effect of 0.5 eV.

trans-A2B-corrole bearing 2,3-di(2-pyridyl)quinoxaline (DPQ)/phenothiazine moieties: synthesis, characterization, electrochemistry and photophysics

Singlet–singlet energy transfer and electron transfer processes in corrole–phenothiazine and corrole–DPQ dyads were demonstrated by using electrochemical and fluorescence (steady-state and time-resolved) spectral studies.