Template-Directed Synthesis, Excited-State Photodynamics, and Electronic Communication in a Hexameric Wheel of Porphyrins

Abstract

To investigate new architectures for molecular photonics applications, a shape-persistent cyclic hexameric architecture (cyclo-Zn3Fb3U-p/m) has been prepared that is comprised of three free base (Fb) porphyrins and three zinc porphyrins linked at the meso-positions via diphenylethyne units. The synthesis involves the Pd-mediated coupling of a p/p-substituted diethynyl Zn porphyrin and a m/m-substituted diiodo Fb porphyrin, forming p/m-substituted diphenylethyne linkages. The isolated yield of cyclo-Zn3Fb3U-p/m is 5.3% in the presence of a tripyridyl template. The array has C3v symmetry, 108 atoms in the shortest path, and a face-to-face distance of ∼35 Å across the cavity. The excited-state lifetime of the Zn porphyrin in cyclo-Zn3Fb3U-p/m is 17 ps, giving a rate of energy transfer to each adjacent Fb porphyrin of ktrans = (34 ps)-1 and a quantum efficiency of Φtrans = 99.2%. This rate is comparable to that in a dimer (ZnFbU-p/m) having an identical linker, but slower than that of a p/p-linked ZnFb dimer, which has ktrans = (24 ps)-1. At ambient temperatures, the hole/electron hopping rate in [cyclo-Zn6U-p/m]+ is comparable to or faster than the EPR time scale (∼4 MHz). The hole/electron hopping rate in [cyclo-Zn6U-p/m]+ appears to be more than 2-fold larger than for [Zn2U-p/m]+; [Zn2U-p/m]+ has a rate at least 10-fold slower than for the p/p-linked dimer [Zn2U]+. Both excited-state energy transfer and ground-state hole/electron hopping proceed via through-bond mechanisms mediated by the diphenylethyne linker. The origin of the slightly slower energy-transfer rate, and substantially slower ground-state hole/electron hopping rate, in the p/m-linked arrays versus the p/p-linked analogues, is attributed primarily to the larger electron density of the frontier molecular orbitals at the p- versus m-position of the phenyl ring in the diphenylethyne linker. Collectively, these results indicate that the site of attachment of the porphyrin to the linker could be used to direct energy and/or hole/electron flow in a controlled manner among porphyrins in diverse 3-dimensional (linear, cyclic, tubular) architectures.