Dyads and Triads Containing Perylenetetracarboxylic Diimide and Porphyrin: Efficient Photoinduced Electron Transfer Elicited via Both Excited Singlet States

Synthesis, characterizations, and photophysical properties of new photoactive dyads and triads containing perylenetetracarboxylic diimide (PIm) and porphyrin (free-base porphyrin (H2P) and zinc porphyrin (ZnP)), in which both entities were connected with a short ether bond, were examined with the aim of using these systems for molecular photonics. The porphyrin(P)−PIm systems absorbed strongly across the visible region, which greatly matched the solar spectrum. The geometric and electronic structures of the dyads and triads were probed using density function theory method at the B3LYP/3-21G level. It was revealed that the majority of the highest-occupied molecular orbital was located on the porphyrin entity, while the lowest-unoccupied molecular orbitals were entirely on the PIm entity. The excited-state electron-transfer processes were monitored by both steady-state and time-resolved emission as well as transient-absorption techniques in polar solvent benzonitrile. Upon excitation of the P (H2P and ZnP) ...