Vibrational cooling in a cold ion trap: vibrationally resolved photoelectron spectroscopy of cold C60(-) anions

Electronic and vibrational spectroscopies of aromatic clusters with He in a supersonic jet: The case of neutral and cationic phenol-Hen (n = 1 and 2)

Van der Waals clusters composed of He and aromatic molecules provide fundamental information about intermolecular interactions in weakly bound systems. In this study, phenol-helium clusters (PhOH-Hen with n ≤ 2) are characterized for the first time by UV and IR spectroscopies. The S1 ← S0 origin and ionization energy both show small but additive shifts, suggesting π-bound structures of these clusters, a conclusion supported by rotational contour analyses of the S1 origin bands. The OH stretching vibrations of the PhOH moiety in the clusters match with those of bare PhOH in both the S0 and D0 states, illustrating the negligible perturbation of the He atoms on the molecular vibration. Matrix shifts induced by He attachment are discussed based on the observed band positions with the help of complementary quantum chemical calculations. For comparison, the UV and ionization spectra of PhOH-Ne are reported as well.

About Perfluoropolyhedranes, Their Electron-Accepting Ability and Questionable Supramolecular Hosting Capacity

Polyhedral molecules are appealing for their eye-catching architecture and distinctive chemistry. Perfluorination of such, often greatly strained, compounds is a momentous challenge. It drastically changes the electron distribution, structure and properties. Notably, small high-symmetry perfluoropolyhedranes feature a centrally located, star-shaped low-energy unoccupied molecular orbital that can host an extra electron within the polyhedral frame, thus producing a radical anion, without loss of symmetry. This predicted electron-hosting capacity was definitively established for perfluorocubane, the first perfluorinated Platonic polyhedrane to be isolated pure. Hosting atoms, molecules, or ions in such "cage" structures is, however, all but forthright, if not illusionary, offering no easy access to supramolecular constructs. While adamantane and cubane have fostered numerous applications in materials science, medicine, and biology, specific uses for their perfluorinated counterparts remain to be established. Some aspects of highly fluorinated carbon allotropes, such as fullerenes and graphite, are briefly mentioned for context.

Probing Dipole-Bound States Using Photodetachment Spectroscopy and Resonant Photoelectron Imaging of Cryogenically Cooled Anions

Molecular anions with polar neutral cores can support highly diffuse dipole-bound states below their detachment thresholds due to the long-range charge-dipole interaction. Such nonvalence states constitute a special class of excited electronic states for anions and were observed in early photodetachment experiments to measure the electron affinities of organic radicals. Recent experimental advances, in particular, the ability to create cold anions using a cryogenically cooled Paul trap, have allowed the investigation of dipole-bound excited states at a new level. For the first time, the zero-point level of dipole-bound excited states can be observed via resonant two-photon detachment, and resonant photoelectron spectroscopy can be performed via the above-threshold vibrational levels (Feshbach resonances) of the dipole-bound states. This Perspective describes recent progress in the investigation of dipole-bound states in the authors' lab using an electrospray photoelectron spectroscopy apparatus equipped with a cryogenically cooled Paul trap and high-resolution photoelectron imaging.

Grape bunches of novel conjugated chain bonded fullerene oligomers: design of a potential electron trap carbonaceous molecular material

Developing π electron conjugated groups as covalent bonded bridges between fullerenes in their oligomers is key to optimizing and maximizing functions of the fullerene-based materials. In this work, a series of novel conjugated chain bonded fullerene C₆₀ oligomers (CBFOs) with a well-defined nano-architecture and "grape bunches" shapes are rationally designed and viably constructed based on fullerene-carbenes by means of DFT calculations. The results show that the presently designed CBFOs present a much better electron-accepting ability together with a much lower reorganization energy than the isolated fullerene C₆₀, and characterized as the potential ideal candidate for electron acceptors. The frontier molecular orbital and electron density analysis can well support the results of diabatic electron affinity (EA_a) and vertical electron affinity (EA_v) calculations. Moreover, these CBFOs exhibit strong absorption in the visible region but no obvious absorption in the ultraviolet region. In addition, the optical properties of the CBFOs and two dimensional structure are also simulated and explored theoretically. We hope that the present study would be helpful for developing covalent-bonded-fullerene based electron trap molecular materials, building blocks of nano-devices and nano-machinery applications.

Electron Transfer Rates in Solution: Toward a Predictive First Principle Approach

Using a very recently proposed theoretical model, electron transfer rates in solution are calculated from first principles for different donor-acceptor pairs in tetrahydrofuran. We show that this approach, which integrates tunneling effects into a classical treatment of solvent motion, is able to provide reliable rate constants and their temperature dependence, even in the case of highly exergonic reactions, where Marcus’ theory usually fails.

Electron Transfer Rates in Polar and Non-Polar Environments: a Generalization of Marcus' Theory to Include an Effective Treatment of Tunneling Effects

A multistep kinetic model in which solvent motion is treated in the framework of Marcus theory and the rates of the elementary electron transfer step are evaluated at full quantum mechanical level is proposed and applied to the calculation of the rates of intramolecular electron transfer reactions in rigidly spaced D-Br-A (D = 1,1'-biphenyl radical anion, Br = androstane) compounds, for five acceptors (A) in three organic solvents with different polarity. The calculated rates agree well with experimental ones, and their temperature dependence is almost quantitatively reproduced.

Ion Binding Site Structure and the Role of Water in Alkaline Earth EDTA Complexes

The interactions between molecular hosts and ionic guests and their dependence on the chemical environment are challenging to disentangle from solution data alone. The vibrational spectra of cold complexes of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) chelating alkaline earth dications in vacuo encode structural characteristics of these complexes and their dependence on the size of the bound ion. The correlation between metal binding geometry and the relative intensities of vibrational bands of the carboxylate groups forming the binding pocket allows us to characterize water-induced changes in molecular geometry. The evolution of these structural markers from bare ions to water adducts to aqueous solution illustrates the role of water for the structure of ion binding sites in chelators. The binding pocket of EDTA opens up in aqueous solution, bringing the bound ion closer to the mouth of the binding site and leading to an increased exposure of the ion to the chemical environment.

Probing the Strong Nonadiabatic Interactions in the Triazolyl Radical Using Photodetachment Spectroscopy and Resonant Photoelectron Imaging of Cryogenically Cooled Anions

Although the adiabatic potential energy surfaces defined by the Born-Oppenheimer approximation are the cornerstones for understanding the electronic structure and spectroscopy of molecular systems, nonadiabatic effects due to the coupling of electronic states by nuclear motions are common in complex molecular systems. The nonadiabatic effects were so strong in the 1,2,3-triazolyl radical (C₂H₂N₃) that the photoelectron spectrum of the triazolide anion was rendered unassignable and could only be understood using nonadiabatic calculations, involving the four low-lying electronic states of triazolyl. Using photodetachment spectroscopy and resonant photoelectron imaging of cryogenically cooled anions, we are able to completely unravel the complex vibronic levels of the triazolyl radical. Photodetachment spectroscopy reveals a dipole-bound state for the triazolide anion at 172 cm^-1 below the detachment threshold and 32 vibrational Feshbach resonances. Resonant photoelectron imaging is conducted by tuning the detachment laser to each of the Feshbach resonances. Combining the photodetachment spectrum and the resonant photoelectron spectra, we are able to assign all 28 vibronic peaks resolved for the triazolyl radical. Fundamental frequencies for 12 vibrational modes of the ground state of the triazolyl radical are measured experimentally. The current study provides unprecedented experimental vibronic information, which will be valuable to verify theoretical models to treat nonadiabatic effects involving multiple electronic states.

Electronic Spectra of C60 Films Using Screened Range Separated Hybrid Functionals

We study computationally the electronic spectra of C₆₀ thin films using the recently developed density functional theory (DFT) framework combining a screened range separated hybrid (SRSH) functional with a polarizable continuum model (PCM). The SRSH-PCM approach achieves excellent correspondence between the frontier orbital's energy levels and the ionization potential and electron affinity of the molecular system at the condensed phase and consequently leads to high quality electronic excitation energies when used in time-dependent DFT calculations. Our calculated excited states reproduce the experimentally main reported spectral peaks at the 3.6-4.6 eV energy range and when addressing excitonic effects also reproduce the red-shifted spectral feature. Notably, we analyze the low-lying peak at 2.7 eV and associate it to an excitonic state.

Metallofullerene photoswitches driven by photoinduced fullerene-to-metal electron transfer

We report on the discovery and detailed exploration of the unconventional photo-switching mechanism in metallofullerenes, in which the energy of the photon absorbed by the carbon cage π-system is transformed to mechanical motion of the endohedral cluster accompanied by accumulation of spin density on the metal atoms. Comprehensive photophysical and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) studies augmented by theoretical modelling are performed to address the phenomenon of the light-induced photo-switching and triplet state spin dynamics in a series of Y _x Sc_3-x N@C₈₀ (x = 0-3) nitride clusterfullerenes. Variable temperature and time-resolved photoluminescence studies revealed a strong dependence of their photophysical properties on the number of Sc atoms in the cluster. All molecules in the series exhibit temperature-dependent luminescence assigned to the near-infrared thermally-activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) and phosphorescence. The emission wavelengths and Stokes shift increase systematically with the number of Sc atoms in the endohedral cluster, whereas the triplet state lifetime and S₁-T₁ gap decrease in this row. For Sc₃N@C₈₀, we also applied photoelectron spectroscopy to obtain the triplet state energy as well as the electron affinity. Spin distribution and dynamics in the triplet states are then studied by light-induced pulsed EPR and ENDOR spectroscopies. The spin-lattice relaxation times and triplet state lifetimes are determined from the temporal evolution of the electron spin echo after the laser pulse. Well resolved ENDOR spectra of triplets with a rich structure caused by the hyperfine and quadrupolar interactions with ¹⁴N, ⁴⁵Sc, and ⁸⁹Y nuclear spins are obtained. The systematic increase of the metal contribution to the triplet spin density from Y₃N to Sc₃N found in the ENDOR study points to a substantial fullerene-to-metal charge transfer in the excited state. These experimental results are rationalized with the help of ground-state and time-dependent DFT calculations, which revealed a substantial variation of the endohedral cluster position in the photoexcited states driven by the predisposition of Sc atoms to maximize their spin population.

Direct observation of charge separation in an organic light harvesting system by femtosecond time-resolved XPS

The ultrafast dynamics of photon-to-charge conversion in an organic light-harvesting system is studied by femtosecond time-resolved X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (TR-XPS) at the free-electron laser FLASH. This novel experimental technique provides site-specific information about charge separation and enables the monitoring of free charge carrier generation dynamics on their natural timescale, here applied to the model donor-acceptor system CuPc:C60. A previously unobserved channel for exciton dissociation into mobile charge carriers is identified, providing the first direct, real-time characterization of the timescale and efficiency of charge generation from low-energy charge-transfer states in an organic heterojunction. The findings give strong support to the emerging realization that charge separation even from energetically disfavored excitonic states is contributing significantly, indicating new options for light harvesting in organic heterojunctions.

Caged-electron states and split-electron states in the endohedral alkali C60

The low-lying electronic states of neutral X@C60 (X = Li, Na, K, Rb) have been computed and analyzed by employing state-of-the-art high level many-electron methods. Apart from the common charge-separated states, well known to be present in endohedral fullerenes, one non-charge-separated state has been found in each of the investigated systems. In Li@C60 and Na@C60, the non-charge-separated state is a caged-electron state already discussed before for Li@C60. This indicates that the application of this low-lying state of Li@C60 discussed before is also applicable for Na@C60. In K@C60 and Rb@C60, the electronic radial distribution analysis shows that this hitherto unknown non-charge-separated state possesses a different nature from that of a caged-electron state.

Charge separated states of endohedral fullerene Li@C20

We report on high-level coupled-cluster calculations of electronic states of the neutral endohedral fullerene Li@C₂₀. All computed states of neutral Li@C₂₀ are found to be the charge separated states of the Li⁺@C₂₀ ^- type. Using the state-of-the-art EA-EOM-CCSD method, we found that neutral Li@C₂₀ (D_3d) possesses several valence and superatomic charge separated states with considerable electron binding energies, the strongest bound state of Li⁺@C₂₀ ^- being the 1²E_u state (6.73 eV). The valence charge separated states correspond to two sets of states of C₂₀ ^-. The states 1²E_u, 1²A_2u, 2²E_u, and 2²A_2u correspond to the respective bound states of C₂₀ ^-, and the states 2²A_2g, 1²E_g, 1²A_1g, and 4²E_u correspond to the unbound states of C₂₀ ^-. There are eight superatomic states with electron binding energy higher than 1.0 eV, being much stronger bound than the single weakly bound superatomic state of the parent fullerene anion. The analysis of the radial density distribution of the excess electron on the carbon cage indicates the important role of the inner part of the superatomic states in forming the charge separated states.

Charge-transfer excited states in the donor/acceptor interface from large-scale GW calculations

Predicting the charge-transfer (CT) excited states across the donor/acceptor (D/A) interface is essential for understanding the charge photogeneration process in an organic solar cell. Here, we present a fragment-based GW implementation that can be applied to a D/A interface structure and thus enables accurate determination of the CT states. The implementation is based on the fragmentation approximation of the polarization function and the combined GW and Coulomb-hole plus screened exchange approximations for self-energies. The fragment-based GW is demonstrated by application to the pentacene/C₆₀ interface structure containing more than 2000 atoms. The CT excitation energies were estimated from the quasiparticle energies and electron-hole screened Coulomb interactions; the computed energies are in reasonable agreement with experimental estimates from the external quantum efficiency measurements. We highlight the impact of the induced polarization effects on the electron-hole energetics. The proposed fragment-based GW method offers a first-principles tool to compute the quasiparticle energies and electronic excitation energies of organic materials.

A Promising Nano-Insulating-Oil for Industrial Application: Electrical Properties and Modification Mechanism

Despite being discovered more than 20 years ago, nanofluids still cannot be used in the power industry. The fundamental reason is that nano-insulating oil has poor stability, and its electrical performance decreases under negative impulse voltage. We found that C₆₀ nanoparticles can maintain long-term stability in insulating oil without surface modification. C₆₀ has strong electronegativity and photon absorption ability, which can comprehensively improve the electrical performance of insulating oil. This finding has great significance for the industrial application of nano-insulating oil. In this study, six concentrations of nano-C₆₀ modified insulating oil (CMIO) were prepared, and their breakdown strength and dielectric properties were tested. The thermally stimulated current (TSC) curves of fresh oil (FO) and CMIO were experimentally determined. The test results indicate that C₆₀ nanoparticles can simultaneously improve the positive and negative lightning impulse and power frequency breakdown voltage of insulating oil, while hardly increasing dielectric loss. At 150 mg/L, the positive and negative lightning impulse breakdown voltages of CMIO increased by 7.51% and 8.33%, respectively, compared with those of FO. The AC average breakdown voltage reached its peak (18.0% higher compared with FO) at a CMIO concentration of 200 mg/L. Based on the test results and the special properties of C₆₀, we believe that changes in the trap parameters, the strong electron capture ability of C₆₀, and the absorption capacity of C₆₀ for photons enhanced the breakdown performance of insulating oil by C₆₀ nanoparticles.

Singlet/triplet exciton dissociation and charge recombination in donor-acceptor ThQs-C60 /PDIxCN2 complexes

The donor-acceptor interface plays a critically important role in determining the power conversion efficiency of organic solar cells via controlling charge separation (CS) and recombination (CR) processes. Here, we combine the electronic structure calculations with electron transfer rate theory to clarify the CS and CR processes in ThQs-C₆₀ /PDIxCN₂ donor-acceptor complexes. The results reveal that in ThQs-PDIxCN₂ the CS comes from both the dissociations of photo-induced singlet exciton and singlet fission-induced triplet exciton with a high efficiency, whereas in ThQs-C₆₀ only the singlet exciton dissociation can take place because the triplet exciton lies below the charge-transfer exciton. However, very high CR rates in ThQs-PDIxCN₂ obliterate the benefit of fast CS, inversely leading to the ThQ-C₆₀ complex with a better cell efficiency. The present results are consistent with experimental observation and may furnish a possible patten to improve the overall conversion efficiency. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Regioisomer-specific electron affinities and electronic structures of C70para-adducts at polar and equatorial positions with (bromo)benzyl radicals: photoelectron spectroscopy and theoretical study

Negative ion photoelectron spectroscopy shows interesting regioisomer-specific electron affinities (EAs) of 2,5- and 7,23-para-adducts of C70 [(ArCH2)2C70] (Ar = Ph, o-, m-, and p-BrC6H4). Their EA values are larger than that of C70 by 5-150 meV with the 2,5-polar adducts' EAs being higher than their corresponding 7,23-equatorial counterparts, exhibiting appreciable EA tunable ranges and regioisomeric specificity. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reproduce both the experimental EA values and EA trends very well.

The onset of electron-induced proton-transfer in hydrated azabenzene cluster anions

The prospect that protons from water may be transferred to N-heterocyclic molecules due to the presence of an excess electron is studied in hydrated azabenzene cluster anions using spectroscopy and computational chemistry.

Static and Dynamic Energetic Disorders in the C60, PC61BM, C70, and PC71BM Fullerenes

We use a combination of molecular dynamics simulations and density functional theory calculations to investigate the energetic disorder in fullerene systems. We show that the energetic disorder evaluated from an ensemble average contains contributions of both static origin (time-independent, due to loose packing) and dynamic origin (time-dependent, due to electron-vibration interactions). In order to differentiate between these two contributions, we compare the results obtained from an ensemble average approach with those derived from a time average approach. It is found that in both amorphous C60 and C70 bulk systems, the degrees of static and dynamic disorder are comparable, while in the amorphous PC61BM and PC71BM systems, static disorder is about twice as large as dynamic disorder.

Persistence of dual free internal rotation in NH4(+)(H2O)·Hen=0-3 ion-molecule complexes: expanding the case for quantum delocalization in He tagging

To explore the extent of the molecular cation perturbation induced by complexation with He atoms required for the application of cryogenic ion vibrational predissociation (CIVP) spectroscopy, we compare the spectra of a bare NH4(+)(H2O) ion (obtained using infrared multiple photon dissociation (IRMPD)) with the one-photon CIVP spectra of the NH4(+)(H2O)·He1-3 clusters. Not only are the vibrational band origins minimally perturbed, but the rotational fine structures on the NH and OH asymmetric stretching vibrations, which arise from the free internal rotation of the -OH2 and -NH3 groups, also remain intact in the adducts. To establish the location and the quantum mechanical delocalization of the He atoms, we carried out diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) calculations of the vibrational zero point wave function, which indicate that the barriers between the three equivalent minima for the He attachment are so small that the He atom wave function is delocalized over the entire -NH3 rotor, effectively restoring C3 symmetry for the embedded -NH3 group.

High-resolution photoelectron imaging of cold C₆₀⁻ anions and accurate determination of the electron affinity of C₆₀

High-resolution photoelectron imaging and spectroscopy of cold C₆₀⁻ anions are reported using a newly built photoelectron imaging apparatus coupled with an electrospray ionization source and a temperature-controlled cryogenic ion trap. Vibrationally resolved photoelectron spectra are obtained for the detachment transition from the ground state of C₆₀⁻ to that of C60 at various detachment wavelengths from 354.84 nm to 461.35 nm. The electron affinity of C60 is accurately measured to be 2.6835 ± 0.0006 eV. Numerous unexpected vibrational excitations are observed in the photoelectron spectra due to the Jahn-Teller effect in C₆₀⁻ and Hertzberg-Teller vibronic coupling in both C₆₀⁻ and C60. Both the relative intensities of vibrational peaks and their photoelectron angular distributions provide evidence for the vibronic couplings. The observed p-wave-like behavior in the angular distribution of the 0₀⁰ transition suggests that the electron is detached from an s-type orbital.

Probing the vibrational spectroscopy of the deprotonated thymine radical by photodetachment and state-selective autodetachment photoelectron spectroscopy via dipole-bound states

Deprotonated thymine can exist in two different forms, depending on which of its two N sites is deprotonated: N1[T-H]^- or N3[T-H]^-. Here we report a photodetachment study of the N1[T-H]^- isomer cooled in a cryogenic ion trap and the observation of an excited dipole-bound state. Eighteen vibrational levels of the dipole-bound state are observed, and its vibrational ground state is found to be 238 ± 5 cm^-1 below the detachment threshold of N1[T-H]^-. The electron affinity of the deprotonated thymine radical (N1[T-H]˙) is measured accurately to be 26 322 ± 5 cm^-1 (3.2635 ± 0.0006 eV). By tuning the detachment laser to the sixteen vibrational levels of the dipole-bound state that are above the detachment threshold, highly non-Franck-Condon resonant-enhanced photoelectron spectra are obtained due to state- and mode-selective vibrational autodetachment. Much richer vibrational information is obtained for the deprotonated thymine radical from the photodetachment and resonant-enhanced photoelectron spectroscopy. Eleven fundamental vibrational frequencies in the low-frequency regime are obtained for the N1[T-H]˙ radical, including the two lowest-frequency internal rotational modes of the methyl group at 70 ± 8 cm^-1 and 92 ± 5 cm^-1.

Photoelectron-photofragment coincidence studies of the tert-butoxide anion (CH3)3CO((-)), the carbanion isomer (CH3)2CH2COH((-)), and corresponding radicals

A study of the photodetachment and dissociative photodetachment (DPD) of the C(4)H(9)O(-) isomers tert-butoxide, (CH(3))(3)CO(-), and the α-hydroxy carbanion (CH(3))(2)C(CH(2))OH(-) is reported. Photoelectron-photofragment coincidence spectroscopy was used to study these anions at 387, 537, and 600 nm. Supported by CBS-QB3 ab initio calculations, the product mass and translational energy distributions were found to be consistent with dissociation of either highly excited (CH3)(3)CO radicals or (CH(3))(2)C(CH2)OH alkylhydroxy radicals. Vibrationally resolved photoelectron spectra of stable radicals at 537 and 600 nm in conjunction with Franck-Condon simulations were used to assign the dominant channel to tert-butoxide ((CH(3)3)CO(-)) anions thermalized to a vibrational temperature of 550 K. DPD is assigned to highly vibrationally excited radicals produced by photodetachment of unrelaxed tert-butoxide products formed at an effective source temperature of 1400 K. The higher energy carbanion was found to be a minor channel and was not observed to dissociate. Calculated energetics for photodetachment and DPD of (CH(3))(3)CO(-) and (CH(3))(2)C(CH(2))OH(-) are discussed and compared with the experimental results.

Absorption spectra of alkali-C₆₀ nanoclusters

We investigate the absorption spectra of alkali-doped C60 nanoclusters, namely C60Nan, C60Kn, and C60Lin, with n = 1, 2, 6, 12, in the framework of the time-dependent density-functional theory (TDDFT). We study the dependence of the absorption spectra on the nature of the alkali. We show that in few cases the absorption spectra depend on the arrangement of the alkali atoms over the fullerene, though sometimes the absorption spectra do not allow us to distinguish between different configurations. When only one or two alkali atoms are adsorbed on the fullerene, the optical response of alkali-doped C60 is similar to that of the anion C60(-) with a strong response in the UV domain. In contrast, for higher concentration of alkali, a strong optical response is predicted in the visible range, particularly when metal-metal bonds are formed. The weak optical response of the I(h)-symmetry C60Li12 is proposed to be used as a signature of its structure.

Cryogenically cooled octupole ion trap for spectroscopy of biomolecular ions

We present here the design of a linear octupole ion trap, suitable for collisional cryogenic cooling and spectroscopy of large ions. The performance of this trap has been assessed using ultraviolet (UV) photofragmentation spectroscopy of protonated dipeptides. At the trap temperature of 6.1 K, the vibrational temperature of the ions reaches 9.1 K, although their estimated translational temperature is ~150 K. This observation suggests that, despite the significant translational heating by radio-frequency electrical field, vibrational cooling of heavy ions in the octupole is at least as efficient as in the 22-pole ion traps previously used in our laboratory. In contrast to the 22-pole traps, excellent radial confinement of ions in the octupole makes it convenient for laser spectroscopy and boosts the dissociation yield of the stored ions to 30%. Overlap of the entire ion cloud by the laser beam in the octupole also allows for efficient UV depletion spectroscopy of ion-He clusters. The measured electronic spectra of the dipeptides and the clusters differ drastically, complicating a use of UV tagging spectroscopy for structural determination of large species.

Effect of geometrical orientation on the charge-transfer energetics of supramolecular (tetraphenyl)-porphyrin∕C60 dyads

The charge transfer (CT) excited state energies of donor-acceptor (D∕A) pairs determine the achievable open-circuit voltage of D∕A-based organic solar cell devices. Changes in the relative orientation of donor-acceptor pairs at the interface influence the frontier orbital energy levels, which impacts the dissociation of bound excitons at the D∕A-interface. We examine the effect of relative orientation on CT excited state energies of porphyrin-fullerene dyads. The donors studied are base- and Zn-tetraphenyl porphyrin coupled to C60 as the acceptor molecule in an end-on configuration. We compare the energetics of a few low-lying CT states for the end-on geometry to our previously calculated CT energetics of a co-facial orientation. The calculated CT excitation energies are larger for the end-on orientation in comparison to the co-facial structure by about 0.7 eV, which primarily occurs due to a decrease in exciton binding energy in going from the co-facial to the end-on orientation. Furthermore, changes in relative donor-acceptor orientation have a larger impact on the CT energies than changes in donor-acceptor distance.