Pa. Liddell et al., PHOTOINDUCED CHARGE SEPARATION AND CHARGE RECOMBINATION TO A TRIPLET-STATE IN A CAROTENE-PORPHYRIN-FULLERENE TRIAD, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 119(6), 1997, pp. 1400-1405
A molecular triad consisting of a diarylporphyrin (P) covalently linke
d to a carotenoid polyene (C) and a fullerene (C-60) has been prepared
and studied using time-resolved spectroscopic methods. In 2-methyltet
rahydrafuran solution, the triad undergoes photoinduced electron trans
fer to yield C-P-.+-C-60(.-), which evolves into C-.+-P-C-60(.-) With
an overall quantum yield of 0.14. This state decays by charge recombin
ation to yield the carotenoid triplet state with a time constant of 17
0 ns. Even in a glass at 77 K, C-.+-P-C-60(.-) is formed with a quantu
m yield of similar to 0.10 and again decays mainly by charge recombina
tion to give C-3-P-C-60. The fullerene triplet, formed through normal
intersystem crossing, is also observed at 77 K. The generation in the
triad of a long-lived charge separated state by photoinduced electron
transfer, the low-temperature electron transfer behavior, and the form
ation of a triplet state by charge recombination are phenomena previou
sly observed mostly in photosynthetic reaction centers.