Self-assembling effects and mechanisms of interchromophore interactions in porphyrin pentads

The directional self-assembly of nanosized, structurally organized pentads that include five tetrapyrrole macrocycles and are based on the two-point coordination interaction of two covalently bound dimers of Zn porphyrins (homo-and heterodimers) with molecules of either the free base or the Cu complex of tetrametapyridyl-substituted porphyrin extra ligand is implemented in methylcyclohexane at 295 K. Using the method of the density functional theory (DFT) in the B3LYP/6-31g(d) approximation, the geometry of the pentad is fully optimized and the main factors that determine its redox properties are determined. The energies of the lowest excited states of the pentad are calculated by the ZINDO/S method, and it is shown that the occurrence of identical molecules in the system facilitates the formation of excitonic states with different contributions from the charge-transfer component. The directional energy transfer and the photoinduced electron transfer, which leads to the formation of a low-lying charge-transfer state (CT state), are studied and the rate constants of these two processes are determined (k ET ∼ 1011 s−1 and k PET ≈ (1.8−6.0) × 109 s−1, respectively). The strong effect of the temperature of the solvent on the efficiency of relaxation processes in pentad complexes under study is revealed and studied. Roles played by the low-lying CT state and d-π exchange effects (the Cu-contained pentad) in fluorescence quenching of pentad complexes are determined.