Triazole Bridges as Versatile Linkers in Electron Donor–Acceptor Conjugates

Aromatic triazoles have been frequently used as π-conjugated linkers in intramolecular electron transfer processes. To gain a deeper understanding of the electron-mediating function of triazoles, we have synthesized a family of new triazole-based electron donor–acceptor conjugates. We have connected zinc(II)porphyrins and fullerenes through a central triazole moiety—(ZnP–Tri–C60)—each with a single change in their connection through the linker. An extensive photophysical and computational investigation reveals that the electron transfer dynamics—charge separation and charge recombination—in the different ZnP–Tri–C60 conjugates reflect a significant influence of the connectivity at the triazole linker. Except for the m4m-ZnP–Tri–C6017, the conjugates exhibit through-bond photoinduced electron transfer with varying rate constants. Since the through-bond distance is nearly the same for all the synthesized ZnP–Tri–C60 conjugates, the variation in charge separation and charge recombination dynamics is mainly a...