The gold porphyrin first excited singlet state

Ultrafast charge separation and charge stabilization in axially linked ‘tetrathiafulvalene–aluminum(iii) porphyrin–gold(iii) porphyrin’ reaction center mimics

Sequential electron transfer leading to charge stabilization in newly synthesized vertically aligned ‘tetrathiafulvalene–aluminum(iii) porphyrin–gold(iii) porphyrin’ supramolecular triads is reported.

Long-range electron transfer in zinc-phthalocyanine-oligo(phenylene-ethynylene)-based donor-bridge-acceptor dyads

In the context of long-range electron transfer for solar energy conversion, we present the synthesis, photophysical, and computational characterization of two new zinc(II) phthalocyanine oligophenylene-ethynylene based donor-bride-acceptor dyads: ZnPc-OPE-AuP(+) and ZnPc-OPE-C(60). A gold(III) porphyrin and a fullerene has been used as electron accepting moieties, and the results have been compared to a previously reported dyad with a tin(IV) dichloride porphyrin as the electron acceptor (Fortage et al. Chem. Commun. 2007, 4629). The results for ZnPc-OPE-AuP(+) indicate a remarkably strong electronic coupling over a distance of more than 3 nm. The electronic coupling is manifested in both the absorption spectrum and an ultrafast rate for photoinduced electron transfer (k(PET) = 1.0 × 10(12) s(-1)). The charge-shifted state in ZnPc-OPE-AuP(+) recombines with a relatively low rate (k(BET) = 1.0 × 10(9) s(-1)). In contrast, the rate for charge transfer in the other dyad, ZnPc-OPE-C(60), is relatively slow (k(PET) = 1.1 × 10(9) s(-1)), while the recombination is very fast (k(BET) ≈ 5 × 10(10) s(-1)). TD-DFT calculations support the hypothesis that the long-lived charge-shifted state of ZnPc-OPE-AuP(+) is due to relaxation of the reduced gold porphyrin from a porphyrin ring based reduction to a gold centered reduction. This is in contrast to the faster recombination in the tin(IV) porphyrin based system (k(BET) = 1.2 × 10(10) s(-1)), where the excess electron is instead delocalized over the porphyrin ring.

Kinetics and mechanism of gold(III) incorporation into tetrakis(1-methylpyridium-4-yl)porphyrin in aqueous solution

The kinetics of the reaction of the tetrakis(1-methylpyridium-4-yl)porphyrin tetracation, [ H 2( TMPyP )]4+, with gold(III) ions were studied along with equilibria of gold(III) species in aqueous medium at 25°C, I = 0.10 M ( NaNO 3). The equilibrium constants for the formation of [ AuCl 4-n( OH ) n ]- ( n = 0,…,4), defined as β n = [ AuCl 4- n ( OH ) n ]- [ Cl -] n / [ AuCl 4-][ OH -] n were found to be that log β1 = 7.94 ± 0.03, log β2 = 15.14 ± 0.03, log β3 = 21.30 ± 0.05 and log β4 = 26.88 ± 0.05. The overall reaction was first order with respect to each of the total [ Au (III)] and [ H 2 TMPyP 4+]. On the basis of pH dependence on rate constants and the hydrolysis of gold(III), the rate expression can be written as d [ Au ( TMPyP )5+]/ dt = ( k 1[ AuCl 4-] + k2[ AuCl 3( OH )-] + k3[ AuCl 2( OH )2-] + k4[ AuCl ( OH )3-])[ H 2 TMPyP 4+], where k1, k2, k3 and k4 were found to be (2.16 ± 0.31) × 10-1, (6.56 ± 0.19) × 10-1, (1.07 ± 0.24) × 10-1, and (0.29 ± 0.21) × 10-1 M -1. s -1, respectively. The kinetic data revealed that the trichloromonohydroxogold(III) species, [ AuCl 3( OH )]-, is the most reactive. The higher reactivity of [ AuCl 3( OH )]- is explained by hydrogen bonding formation between the hydroxyl group of [ AuCl 3( OH )]- and the pyrrole hydrogen atom of [ H 2( TMPyP )]4+. Furthermore, applying the Fuoss equation to the observed rate constants at different ionic strengths, the apparent net charge of [ H 2( TMPyP )]4+ was calculated to be +3.5.

Porphyrin complexes of the period 6 main group and late transition metals

Metalloporphyrin complexes of the period six metals gold, mercury, thallium, lead and bismuth are often overlooked in favour of their lighter congeners. These complexes exhibit unusual coordination geometries, prominently featuring the metal centre residing out the porphyrin plane. Not only are these compounds chemically interesting, but several applications for these complexes are beginning to emerge. Gold and bismuth porphyrins have medicinal applications including novel chemotherapeutics and sensitizers for α-radiotherapy, while gold porphyrins have applications in materials chemistry and catalysis. This perspective serves to highlight trends in the synthesis and structure of these heavy metal complexes as well as illustrate the considerations necessary for rationally designing elaborate porphyrin architectures.

Triplet photophysics of gold(III) porphyrins

Gold porphyrins are often used as electron-accepting chromophores in donor-acceptor complexes for the study of photoinduced electron transfer, and they can also be involved in triplet-triplet energy-transfer interactions with other chromophores. Since the lowest excited singlet state is very short-lived (240 fs), the triplet state is usually the starting point for the transfer reactions, and it is therefore crucial to understand its photophysics. The triplet state of various gold porphyrins has been reported to have a lifetime of around 1.5 ns at room temperature and to have a biexponential decay both in emission and in transient absorption with decay times of around 10 and 100 micros at 80 K. In this paper, the triplet photophysics of two gold porphyrins (Au(III) 5,15-bis(3,5-di-tert-butylphenyl)-2,8,12,18-tetraethyl-3,7,13,17-tetramethylporphyrin and Au(III) 5,10,15,20-tetra(3,5-di-tert-butylphenyl)porphyrin) are studied by steady-state and time-resolved absorption and emission spectroscopy over a wide temperature range (4-300 K). The study reveals the existence of a dark state with an approximate lifetime of 50 ns, which was not previously observed. This state acts as an intermediate between the short-lived singlet and the triplet state manifold. In addition, we present DFT calculations, in which the core electrons of the central metal were replaced by a pseudopotential to account for the relativistic effects, which suggest that the lowest excited singlet state is an optically forbidden ligand-to-metal charge-transfer (LMCT) state. This LMCT state is an obvious candidate for the experimentally observed dark state, and it is shown to dictate the photophysical properties of gold porphyrins by acting as a gate for triplet state formation versus direct return to the ground state.

Interplay between Barrier Width and Height in Electron Tunneling: Photoinduced Electron Transfer in Porphyrin-Based Donor−Bridge−Acceptor Systems

The rate of electron tunneling in molecular donor-bridge-acceptor (D-B-A) systems is determined both by the tunneling barrier width and height, that is, both by the distance between the donor and acceptor as well as by the energy gap between the donor and bridge moieties. These factors are therefore important to control when designing functional electron transfer systems, such as constructs for photovoltaics, artificial photosynthesis, and molecular scale electronics. In this paper we have investigated a set of D-B-A systems in which the distance and the energy difference between the donor and bridge states (DeltaEDB) are systematically varied. Zinc(II) and gold(III) porphyrins were chosen as electron donor and acceptor because of their suitable driving force for photoinduced electron transfer (-0.9 eV in butyronitrile) and well-characterized photophysics. We have previously shown, in accordance with the superexchange mechanism for electron transfer, that the electron transfer rate is proportional to the inverse of DeltaEDB in a series of zinc/gold porphyrin D-B-A systems with bridges of constant edge to edge distance (19.6 A) and varying DeltaEDB (3900-17 600 cm(-1)). Here, we use the same donor and acceptor but the bridge is shortened or extended giving a set of oligo-p-phenyleneethynylene bridges (OPE) with four different edge to edge distances ranging from 12.7 to 33.4 A. These two sets of D-B-A systems-ZnP-RB-AuP+ and ZnP-nB-AuP+-have one bridge in common, and hence, for the first time both the distance and DeltaEDB dependence of electron transfer can be studied simultaneously in a systematic way.

Competition between Superexchange-Mediated and Sequential Electron Transfer in a Bridged Donor-Acceptor System

The temperature- and solvent-dependence of photoinduced electron-transfer reactions in a porphyrin-based donor-bridge-acceptor (DBA) system is studied by fluorescence and transient absorption spectroscopy. Two competing processes occur: sequential and direct superexchange-mediated electron transfer. In a weakly polar solvent (2-methyltetrahydrofuran), only direct electron transfer from the excited donor to the appended acceptor is observed, and this process has weak temperature dependence. In polar solvents (butyronitrile and dimethylformamide), both processes are observed and the sequential electron transfer shows strong temperature dependence. In systems where both electron transfer processes are observed, the long-range superexchange-mediated process is more than two times faster than the sequential process, even though the donor-acceptor distance is significantly larger in the former case.