INTERPLAY OF ORBITAL TUNING AND LINKER LOCATION IN CONTROLLING ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION IN PORPHYRIN ARRAYS

The β-diphenylethyne-linked porphyrin dimers ZnFbU-β (nonlinking meso-mesityl substituents) and F30ZnFbU-β (nonlinking meso-pentafluorophenyl substituents) and their bis-Zn analogues have been examined by static spectroscopic (absorption, fluorescence, electron paramagnetic resonance), time-resolved spectroscopic (absorption, fluorescence), and electrochemical (cyclic and square-wave voltammetry, coulometry) methods. The β-linked dimers were examined to test the hypothesis that the nature of the porphyrin HOMO (a1u versus a2u) in concert with the position of the linker (β-pyrrole or meso carbon) mediates electronic communication (excited-state energy transfer, ground-state hole-hopping). The major findings are as follows:  (1) The rate of energy transfer is (56 ps)-1 for ZnFbU-β and (24 ps)-1 for F30ZnFbU-β. (2) The rate of hole/electron hopping in the monooxidized bis-Zn complex [F30Zn2U-β]+ is in the fast-exchange limit and is at least comparable to that for [Zn2U-β]+. These findings indicate that the p...