Intramolecular Triplet Energy Transfer in Anthracene-Based Platinum Acetylide Oligomers

Platinum acetylide oligomers that contain an anthracene moiety have been synthesized and subjected to photophysical characterization. Spectroscopic measurement and DFT calculations reveal that both the singlet and triplet energy levels of the anthracene segment are lower than those of the platinum acetylide segment. Thus, the platinum acetylide segment acts as a sensitizer to populate the triplet state of the anthrancene segment via intramolecular triplet-triplet energy transfer. The objective of this work is to understand the mechanisms of energy-transfer dynamics in these systems. Fluorescence quenching and the dominant triplet absorption that arises from the anthracene segment in the transient absorption spectrum of Pt4An give clear evidence that energy transfer adopts an indirect mechanism, which begins with singlet-triplet energy transfer from the anthracene segment to the platinum acetylide segment followed by triplet-triplet energy transfer to the anthracene segment.