Photodecarbonylation of alpha-diketones: a mechanistic study of reactions leading to acenes.

Poly(acene)s are significant compounds for various electronic applications. A clean, one-step synthesis involves alpha-diketones (2-4), which undergo facile Strating-Zwanenburg photodecarbonylation producing the corresponding poly(acene)s (i.e.

Excited state relaxation dynamics of the zinc(II) tetraphenylporphine cation radical.

A new technique employed to study the photophysical properties of the zinc(II) tetraphenylporphine cation radical is reported. It employs a combination of controlled potential coulometry and femtosecond absorption spectrometry. The fast transient lifetime of 17 ps of the pi-cation species originates in very efficient mixing of the a(2u) HOMO cation orbital that places electronic density mainly on pyrrolic nitrogens and metal d-orbitals.