Mediated electronic coupling: Singlet energy transfer in porphyrin dimers enhanced by the bridging chromophore

We have studied singlet electronic energy transfer (EET) in two donor-bridge-acceptor series (D-B-A), in which the donor (zinc porphyrin or its pyridine complex) and the acceptor (free base porphyrin) were covalently connected by a geometrically well-defined bridging chromophore. We have investigated how the medium between a donor and an acceptor influences EET by separating the influence of the electronic structure of the bridging chromophore from other effects known to influence the energy transfer. The electronic structure of the bridging chromophore was varied by changing the central unit (bicyclo[2.2.2]octane, benzene, naphthalene, or anthracene) in the bridging chromophore. In all systems the excited state energy separation donor-bridge and bridge-acceptor is large enough to prevent stepwise singlet energy transfer. In addition, the systems were designed to minimize conjugation to preserve the identity of the separate chromophores (donor, bridge, acceptor). Compared with the rate constant expected from the Forster theory, the bridging chromophore with bicyclo[2.2.2]octane as the central unit did not significantly enhance the energy transfer rate constant. However, the bridging chromophores with benzene and naphthalene as the central unit showed a moderate increase, whereas the bridging chromophore with anthracene as the central unit showed the largest increase in energy transfer rate constant. This increase is ascribed to a mediating effect of the bridging chromophore and it is proposed to be strongly correlated to the energy splitting between the singlet excited states of donor and bridging chromophores.