Title: Photophysical Properties and Electronic Structure of Porphyrins Bearing Zero to Four meso-Phenyl Substituents: New Insights into Seemingly Well Understood Tetrapyrroles

Abstract

Six free base porphyrins bearing 0–4 meso substituents have been examined by steady-state and time-resolved absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy in both toluene and N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF). The lifetime of the lowest singlet excited state (S₁) decreases with an increase in the number of meso-phenyl groups; the values in toluene are H₂P-0 (15.5 ns) > H₂P-1 (14.9 ns) > H₂P-2c (14.4 ns) > H₂P-2t (13.8 ns) ~ H₂P-3 (13.8 ns) > H₂P-4 (12.8 ns), where “H₂P” refers to the core free base porphyrin, the numerical suffix indicates the number of meso-phenyl groups, and “c” and “t” refer to cis and trans, respectively. The opposite trend is found for the fluorescence quantum yield; the values in toluene are H₂P-0 (0.049) < H₂P-1 (0.063) ~ H₂P-2c (0.063) < H₂P-2t (0.071) < H₂P-3 (0.073) < H₂P-4 (0.090). Similar trends occur in DMF. All radiative and non-radiative (internal conversion and intersystem crossing) rate constants for S₁ decay increase with increasing number of meso-phenyl groups. The increase in the rate constant for fluorescence parallels an increase in oscillator strength of the S_o → S₁ absorption manifold. Here, the trend is reproduced by time-dependent density functional theory calculations. The calculations within the context of the four-orbital model revealmore » that the enhanced S_o → S₁ radiative probabilities derive from a preferential effect of the meso-phenyl groups to raise the energy of the highest occupied molecular orbital, which underpins a parallel bathochromic shift in the S_o → S₁ absorption wavelength. Polarizations of the S₁ and S₂ excited states with respect to molecular structural features (e.g., the central proton axis) are analyzed in the context of historical conventions for porphyrins versus chlorins and bacteriochlorins, where some ambiguity exists, including for porphine, one of the simplest tetrapyrroles. Collectively, the study affords fundamental insights into the photophysical properties and electronic structure of meso-phenylporphyrins that should aid their continued widespread use as benchmarks for tetrapyrrole-based architectures in chemical, solar-energy and life-sciences research.« less

Authors:

Mandal, Amit Kumar ^[1]; Taniguchi, Masahiko ^[2]; Diers, James R. ^[3]; Niedzwiedzki, Dariusz M.  ^[1];

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Kirmaier, Christine ^[1]; Lindsey, Jonathan S. ^[2]; Bocian, David F. ^[3]; Holten, Dewey ^[1]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (United States)
2. North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)
3. Univ. of California, Riverside, CA (United States)

Publication Date:

Tue Dec 06 00:00:00 EST 2016

Research Org.:

Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

OSTI Identifier:

1774947

Grant/Contract Number:  

FG02-05ER15651

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Journal of Physical Chemistry. A, Molecules, Spectroscopy, Kinetics, Environment, and General Theory

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 120; Journal Issue: 49; Journal ID: ISSN 1089-5639

Publisher:

American Chemical Society

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

14 SOLAR ENERGY; Hydrocarbons; Aromatic compounds; Energy; Absorption; Pyrroles