Photoinduced charge separation (CS) and charge recombination (CR) processes have been examined in various porphyrin-fullerene linked systems (i.e., dyads and triads) by means of time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy and fluorescence lifetime measurements. The investigated compounds comprise a homologous series of rigidly linked, linear donor-acceptor arrays with different donor-acceptor separations and diversified donor strength: freebase porphyrin-C60 dyad (H2P-C60), zincporphyrin-C60 dyad (ZnP-C60), ferrocene-zincporphyrin-C60 triad (Fc-ZnP-C60), ferrocene-freebase porphyrin-C60 triad (Fc-H2P-C60), and zincporphyrin-freebase porphyrin-C60 triad (ZnP-H2P-C60). Most importantly, the lowest lying charge-separated state of all the investigated systems, namely, that of ferrocenium ion (Fc+) and the C60 radical anion (C60.-) pair in the Fc-ZnP-C60 triad, has been generated with the highest quantum yields (close to unity) and reveals a lifetime as long as 16 micros. Determination of CS and CR rate constants, together with the one-electron redox potentials of the donor and acceptor moieties in different solvents, has allowed us to examine the driving force dependence (-DeltaG0ET) of the electron-transfer rate constants (kET). Hereby, the semilogarithmic plots (i.e., log kET versus -DeltaG0ET) lead to the evaluation of the reorganization energy (lambda) and the electronic coupling matrix element (V) in light of the Marcus theory of electron-transfer reactions: lambda = 0.66 eV and V = 3.9 cm(-1) for ZnP-C60 dyad and lambda = 1.09 eV and V = 0.019 cm(-1) for Fc-ZnP-C60, Fc-H2P-C60, and ZnP-H2P-C60 triads. Interestingly, the Marcus plot in Fc-ZnP-C60, Fc-H2P-C60, and ZnP-H2P-C60 has provided clear evidence for intramolecular CR located in both the normal and inverted regions of the Marcus parabola. The coefficient for the distance dependence of V (damping factor: betaCR = 0.58 A(-1) is deduced which depends primarily on the nature of the bridging molecule.

An extremely long-lived charge-separated state has been achieved successfully using a ferrocene-zincporphyrin-freebaseporphyrin-fullerene tetrad which reveals a cascade of photoinduced energy transfer and multistep electron transfer within a molecule in frozen media as well as in solutions. The lifetime of the resulting charge-separated state (i.e., ferricenium ion-C(60) radical anion pair) in a frozen benzonitrile is determined as 0.38 s, which is more than one order of magnitude longer than any other intramolecular charge recombination processes of synthetic systems, and is comparable to that observed for the bacterial photosynthetic reaction center. Such an extremely long lifetime of the tetrad system has been well correlated with the charge-separated lifetimes of two homologous series of porphyrin-fullerene dyad and triad systems.

A novel molecular triad, representing an artificial reaction center, was synthesized via linking a fullerene moiety to an array of two porphyrins (i.e., a zinc tetraphenyl porphyrin (ZnP) and a free base tetraphenyl porphyrin (H 2 P)). In this ZnP-H 2 P-C 60 triad, the ZnP performs as an antenna molecule, transferring its singlet excited state energy to the energetically lower lying H 2 P. In benzonitrile, this energy transfer (k ) 1.5 × 10 10 s -1 ) is followed by a sequential electron-transfer relay evolving from the generated singlet excited state of H 2 P to yield ZnP-H 2 P •+ -C 60 •and subsequently ZnP •+ -H 2 P-C 60 •with rate constants of 7.0 × 10 9 s -1 and 2.2 × 10 9 s -1 , respectively. The final charge-separated state, formed in high yield (0.4), gives rise to a remarkable lifetime of 21 µs in deoxygenated benzonitrile and decays directly to the singlet ground state. In contrast, in nonpolar toluene solutions the deactivation of the porphyrin chromophores (ZnP and H 2 P) takes place via singlet-singlet energy transfer leading to the fullerene singlet excited state. This stems from the unfavorable free energy changes for an intramolecular electron-transfer event in toluene from the singlet excited state of H 2 P to the adjacent fullerene acceptor.

Both charge-transfer absorption and emission have been observed in porphyrin-linked fullerene where the C 60 moiety is closely located on the porphyrin plane. Electron-transfer parameters including reorganization energies, free energy changes, and electronic coupling matrix elements were determined by analyzing the charge-transfer absorption and emission in benzene. The reorganization energy is estimated as 0.23 ( 0.11 eV, which is the smallest value among inter-and intramolecular donor-acceptor systems ever reported and is comparable to the smallest ones for the primary charge separation in the photosynthetic reaction center. The results clearly show that fullerenes combined with porphyrins are potential components for constructing artificial photosynthetic systems.