Role of intramolecular hydrogen bonds in promoting electron flow through amino acid and oligopeptide conjugates.

Elucidating the factors that control charge transfer rates in relatively flexible conjugates is of importance for understanding energy flows in biology as well as assisting the design and construction of electronic devices. Here, we report ultrafast electron transfer (ET) and hole transfer (HT) between a corrole (Cor) donor linked to a perylene-diimide (PDI) acceptor by a tetrameric alanine (Ala) Selective photoexcitation of the donor and acceptor triggers subpicosecond and picosecond ET and HT. Replacement of the (Ala) linker with either a single alanine or phenylalanine does not substantially affect the ET and HT kinetics.