Charge Transfer, Intersystem Crossing, and Electron Spin Dynamics in a Compact Perylenemonoimide-Phenoxazine Electron Donor-Acceptor Dyad.

With phenoxazine (PXZ) as the electron donor and perylene-3,4-dicarboximide (PMI) as the electron acceptor, we prepared a compact, orthogonal electron donor-acceptor dyad () to study the spin-orbit charge transfer-induced intersystem crossing (SOCT-ISC). A weak charge transfer (CT) absorption band, due to S → CT transition, was observed (ε = 2840 M cm at 554 nm, FWHM: 2850 cm), which is different from that of the previously reported analogue dyad with phenothiazine as the electron donor (), for which no CT absorption band was observed. A long-lived triplet state was observed (lifetime τ = 182 μs) with nanosecond transient absorption spectroscopy, and the singlet oxygen quantum yield (Φ = 76%) is higher than that of the previously reported analogue dyad (Φ = 57%). Ultrafast charge separation (ca. 0.14 ps) and slow charge recombination (1.4 ns) were observed with femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. With time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (TREPR), we confirmed the SOCT-ISC mechanism, and the electron spin polarization phase pattern of the triplet-state TREPR spectrum is (, , , , , ), which is dramatically different from that of (, , , , , ), indicating that the triplet-state TREPR spectrum of a specific chromophore in the electron donor-acceptor dyads is not only dependent on the geometry of the dyads but also dependent on the structure of the electron donor (or acceptor). Even one-atom variation in the donor structure may cause significant influence on the electron spin selectivity of the ISC of the electron donor-acceptor dyads.