Photosynthetic antenna-reaction center mimicry: sequential energy- and electron transfer in a self-assembled supramolecular triad composed of boron dipyrrin, zinc porphyrin and fullerene

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Authors
Maligaspe, Eranda
Tkachenko, Nikolai V.
Subbaiyan, Navaneetha K.
Chitta, Raghu
Zandler, Melvin E.
Lemmetyinen, Helge
D'Souza, Francis
Advisors
Issue Date
2009-07-30
Type
Article
Keywords
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't , Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Citation
The journal of physical chemistry. A. 2009 Jul 30; 113(30): 8478-89.
Abstract

A self-assembled supramolecular triad, a model to mimic the photochemical events of photosynthetic antenna-reaction center, viz., sequential energy and electron transfer, has been newly constructed and studied. Boron dipyrrin, zinc porphyrin, and fullerene respectively constitute the energy donor, electron donor, and electron acceptor segments of the antenna-reaction center mimicry. For the construction, first, boron dipyrrin was covalently attached to a zinc porphyrin entity bearing a benzo-18-crown-6 host segment at the opposite end of the porphyrin ring. Next, an alkyl ammonium functionalized fullerene was used to self-assemble the crown ether entity via ion-dipole interactions. The newly formed supramolecular triad was fully characterized by spectroscopic, computational, and electrochemical methods. Selective excitation of the boron dipyrrin moiety in the dyad resulted in energy transfer over 97% efficiency creating singlet excited zinc porphyrin. The rate of energy transfer from the decay measurements of time-correlated singlet photon counting (TCSPC) and up-conversion techniques agreed well with that obtained by the pump-probe technique and revealed efficient photoinduced energy transfer in the dyad (time constant in the order of 10-60 ps depending upon the conformer). Upon forming the supramolecular triad by self-assembling fullerene, the excited zinc porphyrin resulted in electron transfer to the coordinated fullerene yielding a charge-separated state, thus mimicking the antenna-reaction center functionalities of photosynthesis. Nanosecond transient absorption studies yielded a lifetime of the charge-separated state to be 23 micros indicating charge stabilization in the supramolecular triad. The present supramolecular system represents a successful model to mimic the rather complex "combined antenna-reaction center" events of photosynthesis.

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Publisher
American Chemical Society
Journal
Book Title
Series
The journal of physical chemistry. A
J Phys Chem A
PubMed ID
DOI
ISSN
1520-5215
1089-5639
EISSN