PHOTOCHEMICAL PROBES OF INTRAMOLECULAR ELECTRON AND ENERGY-TRANSFER

Photochemically reactive systems have been developed which allow the q uantitative assessment of free energy/rate correlations for intramolec ular excited state electron and energy transfer (ET and E(N)T, respect ively). Preliminary results are described on systems which contain the (diimine)Re(I)(CO)3-chromophore covalently linked to either an electr on donor or an (excited state) energy acceptor. The electron donor and the energy acceptor units undergo rapid chemical reaction upon being oxidized (via photoinduced ET) or photochemically excited (by intramol ecular E(N)T). Quantitative examination of the photophysics and photoc hemical reaction quantum yields in these molecules allows evaluation o f the rates of intramolecular ET and E(N)T.