Donor-acceptor interactions of gold(III) porphyrins with cobalt(II) phthalocyanine: chemical structure of products, their spectral characterization and DFT study

In the context of the development of coordination energy-harvesting systems, the axial bonding of cobalt(II) octakis(3,5-di-tert-butylphenoxy)phthalocyanine (1) with gold(III) 2,3,7,8,12,18-hexamethyl,13,17-diethyl,5-(pyridin-4-yl)- and (2,3,7,8,12,18-hexamethyl,13,17-diethyl,5-(pyridin-3-yl)porphin (2 and 3), the structure, the spectral/electrochemical properties of the resulting donor-acceptor complexes and photoinduced electron transfer in them are studied. The process of the dyad formation passing as self-assembly in the donor-acceptor phthalocyanine-porphyrin systems was explored using UV-Visible, IR, and ¹H NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. The geometric and electronic structures of the dyads were identified using density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT calculations. The electron transfer in the coordination complexes studied was confirmed by recording the radical ion pairs namely 1˙⁺:2˙^-/1˙⁺:3˙^- and measuring the kinetics of the photoinduction and decay of these states by a femtosecond laser photolysis technique. The effect of the gold(III) porphyrin macrocycle nature in the lifetime of radical ion pairs was shown. The redox potential values for the coordination dyads and the photoelectrochemical parameters defining their perspective in design and understanding of PET systems were observed using the cyclic voltammetry/amperometry methods and the short-circuited electrochemical cell Ti|a dyad film|0.5 M Na₂SO₄|Pt, respectively.

N Basicity of Substituted Fullero[60]/[70]pyrrolidines According to DFT/TD-DFT Calculations and Chemical Thermodynamics

The basicity thermodynamic parameters of pyridyl/imidazole-substituted fullero[60]/[70]pyrrolidines with respect to N heteroatoms in dichloromethane, which are necessary both to deepen insight into aromaticity "neque levia" and to create supramolecular chemical structures for application, are obtained and discussed in this work. Because of the presence of a chromophore in the molecules, the acid-base reactions of three C₆₀ derivatives functionalized in different ways and one C₇₀ derivative are studied using spectrophotometric titration with trifluoroacetic acid. The dependence of the pK values determined using the data on Hammett's acidity functions, H₀, for a binary nonaqueous solvent on the molecule's chemical structure is shown. Density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) at the B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) level were used for the optimization of the fullerene derivative structures and modeling of their UV-vis spectra. The pK_BH⁺ values of substituted fullero[60]/[70]pyrrolidines are predicted by quantum-chemical calculations.

Carbazole-functionalized cobalt(ii) porphyrin axially bonded with C60/C70 derivatives: synthesis and characterization

Depending on the structure of the fullero[60]/[70]pyrrolidine, the carbazole-functionalized cobalt(ii) porphyrin forms donor–acceptor systems of different compositions.

Can one use the electronic absorption spectra of metalloporphyrins to benchmark electronic structure methods? A case study on the cobalt porphyrin

In this article, we describe calculations on the absorption spectrum of cobalt(ii) porphyrin, using density functional (DFT) and multireference n-electron valence perturbation (NEVPT) theories. With these calculations, we describe the lowest-energy states of doublet and quartet spin multiplicities, the excited states that originate the Q and B bands of porphyrins, some higher-energy π-π* excitations and charge-transfer states, HOMO-LUMO gaps, and ionisation potentials. Results undoubtedly show that the position of B band is essentially independent on the DFT functional, while the Q band is better described by pure functionals, and these bands do not depend on the initial state of the transition (whether doublet or quartet) as well. However, other excitation energies, orbital energies, and ionisation potentials strongly depend on the functional, in some cases varying more than 2 eV. Based on these results we conclude that one should not use the UV-Vis spectrum of metalloporphyrins to benchmark density functionals, mainly those properties related to coordination with the metallic ion. Furthermore, the results show that functionals that yield correct spectra may be based on an incorrect ground state description. Moreover, we reinforce that one must be skeptical about the reference chosen to benchmark electronic structure calculations, such as DFT functionals and active spaces for multireference calculations.