Temperature and viscosity dependence of the triplet energy transfer process in porphyrin dimers

The temperature and viscosity dependence of the triplet energy transfer (TET) process in porphyrin dimers has been studied. A zinc porphyrin (donor) and a free base porphyrin (acceptor) are covalently linked together by rigid bridging chromophores at a center-center distance of 25 Angstrom. Due to the large donor-acceptor distance and the weakness of the spin forbidden transitions involved, neither direct (through space) electron exchange nor Coulombic mechanisms are expected to contribute to the observed TET process. The results from transient absorption measurements at temperatures between room temperature and 80 K show that TET occurs with unexpectedly high efficiency in the systems connected by fully conjugated bridges and a pronounced temperature dependence of the process is observed. Comparison of the TET efficiencies in dimers connected by different bridging chromophores correlates well with a transfer reaction governed by a through bond exchange (superexchange) interaction. However, in high viscosity media the TET process is dramatically slowed down. This is attributed to a conformational gating of the TET process where the electronic coupling varies strongly with the relative orientation of the donor and the bridging chromophore. Further, the zinc porphyrin donor offers two distinct donor species, T-1A and T-1B. At room temperature, the TET rate constant of the T-1A Species is about two orders of magnitude larger than for the T-1B species. The dimers studied are well suited model systems for materials where the rate of the transfer reactions can be changed by external stimuli