To study the photophysical and redox
properties as a
function of meso-aryl units, a series of hypervalent
phosphorus(V) porphyrins,
PP(OMe)2·PF6, PMP(OMe)2·PF6, PDMP(OMe)2·PF6, P345TMP(OMe)2·PF6, and P246TMP(OMe)2·PF6, with phenyl (P), 4-methoxyphenyl (MP), 3,5-dimethoxyphenyl
(DMP), 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl (345TMP), and 2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl
(246TMP) units, respectively, have been synthesized. The P(+5) in
the cavity makes the porphyrin ring electron-poor, whereas the methoxy
groups make the meso-phenyl rings electron-rich.
The presence of electron-rich and electron-poor portions within the
porphyrin molecule promoted an intramolecular charge transfer (ICT).
Also, the study suggests that the ICT depends on the number and position
of the methoxy groups. The ICT is more prominent in m-methoxy-substituted phosphorus(V) porphyrins (PDMP(OMe)2.PF6, P345TMP(OMe)2·PF6) and
almost no ICT was found in no-methoxy, o-methoxy,
and/or p-methoxy phosphorus(V) porphyrins (PP(OMe)2·PF6, PMP(OMe)2·PF6, P246TMP(OMe)2·PF6). Transient absorption
studies indicate that the ICT takes place on the picosecond time scale.
The most striking results come from P246TMP(OMe)2·PF6, where each phenyl ring carries three methoxy units, like
the P345TMP(OMe)2·PF6, but it failed to
induce the ICT process. Electrochemical studies and time-dependent
density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations were used to support
the experimental results. This study extensively explores why and
how slight variations in meso-aryl substitutions lead to intricate
changes in the photophysical and redox properties of phosphorus(V)
porphyrins.