Intramolecular Energy and Electron Transfer within a Diazaperopyrenium-Based Cyclophane

Abstract

Molecules capable of performing highly efficient energy transfer and ultrafast photoinduced electron transfer in well-defined multichromophoric structures are indispensable to the development of artificial photofunctional systems. Herein, we report on the synthesis, characterization, and photophysical properties of a rationally designed multichromophoric tetracationic cyclophane, DAPPBox4+, containing a diazaperopyrenium (DAPP2+) unit and an extended viologen (ExBIPY2+) unit, which are linked together by two p-xylylene bridges. Both1H NMR spectroscopy and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis confirm the formation of an asymmetric, rigid, box-like cyclophane, DAPPBox4+. The solid-state superstructure of this cyclophane reveals a herringbone-type packing motif, leading to two types of π···π interactions: (i) between the ExBIPY2+ unit and the DAPP2+ unit (π···π distance of 3.7 Å) in the adjacent parallel cyclophane, as well as (ii) between the ExBIPY2+ unit (π···π distance of 3.2 Å) and phenylene ring in the closest orthogonal cyclophane. Moreover, the solution-phase photophysical properties of this cyclophane have been investigated by both steady-state and time-resolved absorption and emission spectroscopies. Upon photoexcitation of DAPPBox4+ at 330 nm, rapid and quantitative intramolecular energy transfer occurs from the1*ExBIPY2+ unit to the DAPP2+ unit in 0.5 ps to yield1*DAPP2+. The same excitation wavelength simultaneously populates a higher excited state of1*DAPP2+ which then undergoes ultrafast intramolecular electron transfer from1*DAPP2+ to ExBIPY2+ to yield the DAPP3+•-ExBIPY+• radical ion pair in τ = 1.5 ps. Selective excitation of DAPP2+ at 505 nm populates a lower excited state where electron transfer is kinetically unfavorable.