Time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance studies show that the primary mechanism of triplet formation following photoexcitation of julolidine-anthracene molecules linked by a single bond and having perpendicular pi systems is a spin-orbit, charge-transfer intersystem crossing mechanism (SOCT-ISC). This mechanism depends on the degree of charge transfer from julolidine to anthracene, the dihedral angle (theta1) between their pi systems, and the magnitude of the electronic coupling between julolidine and anthracene. We compare 4-(9-anthracenyl)-julolidine with the more sterically encumbered 4-(9-anthracenyl)-3,5-dimethyljulolidine and find that fixing theta1 congruent with 90 degrees serves to enhance SOCT-ISC by increasing the change in orbital angular momentum accompanying charge transfer. Given that the requirements for the SOCT-ISC mechanism are quite general, we expect it to occur in a variety of electron donor-acceptor systems.

Perylene-3,4:9,10-bis(dicarboximide) (PDI) and its derivatives are robust organic dyes that strongly absorb visible light and display a strong tendency to self-assemble into ordered aggregates, having significant interest as photoactive materials in a wide variety of organic electronics. To better understand the nature of the electronics states produced by photoexcitation of such aggregates, the photophysics of a series of covalent, cofacially oriented, pi-stacked dimers and trimers of PDI and 1,7-bis(3',5'-di-t-butylphenoxy)perylene-3,4:9,10-bis(dicarboximide) (PPDI) were characterized using both time-resolved absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. The covalent linkage between the chromophores was accomplished using 9,9-dimethylxanthene spacers. Placing n-octyl groups on the imide nitrogen atoms at the end of the PDI chromophores not attached to the xanthene spacer results in PDI dimers having near optimal pi-stacking, leading to formation of a low-energy excimer-like state, while substituting the more sterically demanding 12-tricosanyl group on the imides causes deviations from the optimum that result in slower formation of an excimer-like excited state having somewhat higher energy. By comparison, PPDI dimers having terminal n-octyl imide groups have two isomers, whose photophysical properties depend on the ability of the phenoxy groups at the 1,7-positions to modify the pi stacking of the PPDI molecules. In general, disruption of optimal pi-stacking by steric interactions of the phenoxy side groups results in excimer-like states that are higher in energy. The corresponding lowest excited singlet states of the PDI and PPDI trimers are dimer-like in nature and suggest that structural distortions that accompany formation of the trimers are sufficient to confine the electronic interaction on two chromophores within these systems. This further suggests that it may be useful to build into oligomeric PDI and PPDI systems some degree of flexibility that allows the structural relaxations necessary to promote electronic interactions between multiple chromophores.

A perylenediimide chromophore (P) was incorporated into DNA hairpins as a base-pair surrogate to prevent the self-aggregation of P that is typical when it is used as the hairpin linker. The photoinduced charge-transfer and spin dynamics of these hairpins were studied using femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy and time-resolved EPR spectroscopy (TREPR). P is a photooxidant that is sufficiently powerful to quantitatively inject holes into adjacent adenine (A) and guanine (G) nucleobases. The charge-transfer dynamics observed following hole injection from P into the A-tract of the DNA hairpins is consistent with formation of a polaron involving an estimated 3-4 A bases. Trapping of the (A 3-4) (+*) polaron by a G base at the opposite end of the A-tract from P is competitive with charge recombination of the polaron and P (-*) only at short P-G distances. In a hairpin having 3 A-T base pairs between P and G ( 4G), the radical ion pair that results from trapping of the hole by G is spin-correlated and displays TREPR spectra at 295 and 85 K that are consistent with its formation from (1*)P by the radical-pair intersystem crossing mechanism. Charge recombination is spin-selective and produces (3*)P, which at 85 K exhibits a spin-polarized TREPR spectrum that is diagnostic of its origin from the spin-correlated radical ion pair. Interestingly, in a hairpin having no G bases ( 0G), TREPR spectra at 85 K revealed a spin-correlated radical pair with a dipolar interaction identical to that of 4G, implying that the A-base in the fourth A-T base pair away from the P chromophore serves as a hole trap. Our data suggest that hole injection and transport in these hairpins is completely dominated by polaron generation and movement to a trap site rather than by superexchange. On the other hand, the barrier for charge injection from G (+*) back onto the A-T base pairs is strongly activated, so charge recombination from G (or even A trap sites at 85 K) most likely proceeds by a superexchange mechanism.

Mn 2+ -doped ZnSe nanoparticles were synthesized from molecular cluster precursors. Four ZnSe nanoparticle samples, one with low Mn 2+ concentration (A), one with an intermediate Mn 2+ concentration (B), one with a high Mn 2+ concentration (C), and one with no Mn 2+ , were prepared and characterized using UV-vis, luminescence, electron spin resonance (ESR), and X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) techniques. The sample with no Mn 2+ had a sharp ZnSe band edge emission peak and a quantum yield of ∼2%. The samples with Mn 2+ had a significant decrease in band edge emission. Sample A had no Mn 2+ 4 T 1 f 6 A 1 emission but showed some ZnSe band edge emission and trap state emission. Sample B had Mn 2+ 4 T 1 f 6 A 1 emission and a further reduction in ZnSe band edge emission and trap state emission. Sample C showed an increase in the Mn 2+ 4 T 1 f 6 A 1 emission, a dramatic increase in trap state emission, and essentially no ZnSe band edge emission. The overall emission from all four samples was quenched with time. To better understand these observations, XAFS and ESR data were taken to characterize the local structural and chemical environment of the Mn 2+ ions. The XAFS data indicated that there was a reduction in the Zn and Mn first neighbor Se coordination from the bulk value but a lack of a reduction in the Se first neighbor coordination. This suggests that the core of the nanoparticles resembles that of bulk ZnSe, and the surface of the particle has a higher concentration of metal atoms. We propose that the surface Mn 2+ possessed an octahedral geometry due to significant OH -/O 2coordination and the interior Mn 2+ occupied the Zn 2+ tetrahedral site. The overall low Mn 2+ emission quantum yield (>0.1%) is primarily due to the presence of Mn 2+ on the particle surface, and the decrease in Mn 2+ emission overtime is attributed to the quenching of the luminescence by OH -/O 2coordinated to the surface metal ions. In sample C, which had the highest Mn 2+ concentration, the surface Mn 2+ enhanced the disorder of the nanoparticle surface structure, resulting in an increase in trap state emission.

Ruthenium-catalyzed C-H bond activation was used to directly attach phenethyl groups derived from styrene to positions ortho to the imide groups in a variety of rylene imides and diimides including naphthalene-1,8-dicarboximide (NMI), naphthalene-1,4:5,8-bis(dicarboximide) (NI), perylene-3,4-dicarboximide (PMI), perylene-3,4:9,10-bis(dicarboximide) (PDI), and terrylene-3,4:11,12-bis(dicarboximide) (TDI). The monoimides were dialkylated, while the diimides were tetraalkylated, with the exception of NI, which could only be dialkylated due to steric hindrance. The absorption, fluorescence, transient absorption spectra, and lowest excited singlet state lifetimes of these chromophores, with the exception of NI, are nearly identical to those of their unsubstituted parent chromophores. The reduction potentials of the dialkylated chromophores are approximately 100 mV more negative and oxidation potentials are approximately 40 mV less positive than those of the parent compounds, while the corresponding potentials of the tetraalkylated compounds are approximately 200 mV more negative and approximately 100 mV less positive than those of their parent compounds, respectively. Continuous wave electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) data on the radical anion of PDI reveals spin density on the perylene-core protons as well as on the beta-protons of the phenethyl groups. The phenethyl groups enhance the otherwise poor solubility of the bis(dicarboximide) chromophores and only weakly perturb the photophysical and redox properties of the parent molecules, rendering these derivatives and related molecules of significant interest to solar energy conversion.

A permanently microporous metal-organic framework compound with the formula Zn(2)(NDC)(2)(diPyTz) (NDC = 2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylate, diPyTz = di-3,6-(4-pyridyl)-1,2,4,5-tetrazine) has been synthesized. The compound, which features a triply catenating, pillared-paddlewheel structure, was designed to be easily chemically reduced (diPyTz sites) by appropriate channel permeants. Reduction was achieved by using the naphthalenide anion, with the accompanying metal cation (Li(+), Na(+) or K(+)) serving to dope the compound in extraframework fashion. H(2) uptake at 1 atm and 77 K increases from 1.12 wt % for the neutral material to 1.45, 1.60, and 1.51 wt % for the Li(+)-, Na(+)-, and K(+)-doped materials, respectively. The isosteric heats of adsorption are similar for all four versions of the material despite the large uptake enhancements for the reduced versions. Nitrogen isotherms were also measured in order to provide insight into the mechanisms of uptake enhancement. The primary mechanism is believed to be dopant-facilitated displacement of catenated frameworks by sorbed H(2). More extensive cation doping decreases the H(2) loading.

A series of linearly linked perylenediimide (PDI) dimers and trimers were synthesized in which the PDI pi systems are nearly orthogonal. These oligomers and several model compounds were singly reduced, and intramolecular electron hopping between the PDI molecules was probed by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) spectroscopy. When the functional groups attached to the ends of the oligomers were chosen to make each PDI molecule electronically equivalent, the single electron hops between the PDI molecules with rates that significantly exceed 10(7) s(-1). Rapid electron hopping between pairs of PDI molecules having orthogonal pi systems is unexpected and may expand the possible design motifs for organic electronic materials based on PDI.

The synthesis and photophysical properties of butadiyne-linked chlorophyll and porphyrin dimers in toluene solution and in several self-assembled prismatic structures are described. The butadiyne linkage between the 20-positions of the macrocycles results in new electronic transitions polarized along the long axes of the dimers. These transitions greatly increase the ability of these dimers to absorb the solar spectrum over a broad wavelength range. Femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy reveals the relative rate of rotation of the macrocycles around the butadiyne bond joining them. Following addition of 3-fold symmetric, metal-coordinating ligands, both macrocyclic dimers self-assemble into prismatic structures in which the dimers comprise the faces of the prisms. These structures were confirmed by small-angle X-ray scattering experiments in solution using a synchrotron source. Photoexcitation of the prismatic assemblies reveals that efficient, through-space energy transfer occurs between the macrocyclic dimers within the prisms. The distance dependence of energy transfer between the faces of the prisms was observed by varying the size of the prismatic assemblies through the use of 3-fold symmetric ligands having arms with different lengths. These results show that self-assembly of discrete macrocyclic prisms provides a useful new strategy for controlling singlet exciton flow in antenna systems for artificial photosynthesis and solar cell applications.