The theoretical model of Beratan and Onuchic predicts a large attenuation of ET rates through hydrogen bonds; however, the effect of individual hydrogen bond on electron transfer reaction has not been systematically studied. The organic complexes in this study are a series of crown ether/ammonium salt, which incorporate a redox partner on each component of the complex. The dimethoxynaphthalene redox donor was attached to the crown ether and a series of ammonium salts was synthesized which bear substituted quinone and naphthoquinone acceptor. The complexes characterization and preliminary electron transfer rate measurement were completed with UV/Vis and steady-state emission spectroscopy.

Multi-step photoinduced electron transfer takes place over a large distance in the photosynthetic reaction centres (PRCs). Electron donor in this life-spending event is the photo-excited 'special pair', a unit of two electronically coupled porphyrinoid chromophores. Bacteriopheophytin and two quinone molecules function as electron acceptors and contribute to the charge separation with almost unit quantum efficiency. The natural photosynthetic reaction centre is the most sophisticated molecular electronic device to date and interest is high in increasing our understanding of the basic quantum mechanical principles behind efficient electron transfer and ultimately copying Nature and construct similar efficient devices. Two main approaches towards a better understanding of the mechanisms involved have been taken. The more biological disciplines isolate, cultivate and alternate reaction centres whereas synthetic chemists prefer to construct well-defined models that mimic certain aspects of the reaction centres. Such a synthetic approach is described in the 'Synthesis of Advanced 'Special Pair' Models for the Photosynthetic Reaction Centre'. The aspect to be mimicked is the 'special pair'. One or two porphyrins in a well-defined spatial disposition (kinked or non-kinked in respect to each other) were to act as electron donor in rigid bichromophoric and trichromophoric systems. A tetracyanonaphthoquinodimethane (TCNQ) unit was employed as the electron acceptor in the series of dyads synthesised. The TCNQ acceptor was replaced by a naphthoquinone (NQ) primary acceptor covalently linked to a TCNQ secondary electron acceptor in the series of triads. Rigid norbornylogous bridges held the chromophores in place and Diels-Alder methodology as well as condensation reactions were applied to link donor, bridge and acceptor components. Despite larger interchromophoric separation than in the natural 'special pair', the two porphyrin chromophores of the series of 'special pair' dyads show some interaction and thereby prove the success of our approach towards 'special pair' mimics. Strong fluorescence quenching in the porphyrin-TCNQ dyads indicates the sought after electron transfer process. A number of synthetic problems experienced and overcome in the synthesis of the series of triads led to discovery of a one-step 'bis-ketonisation' from an olefin under Sharpless bis-hydroxylation conditions with N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide. High pressure was applied to circumvent a lack of reactivity in the condensation reaction used to attach the porphyrin moieties (one or two) to the donor backbone. For the linkage of donor, bridge and acceptor component, a procedure was developed and successfully applied to give the giant mono-porphyrin-NQ-TCNQ trichromophore. In a similar manner 'special pair' trichromophoric systems should be available as part of future work.

Mixed-valence compounds are of interest as model systems for the study of electron transfer reactions. The intramolecular electron transfer processes and patterns of charge delocalization in such compounds depend on the interplay between the electronic (V) and the vibronic (L) coupling. One can obtain both parameters from a Hush analysis of the intervalence band that arises upon optical intramolecular electron transfer if the band is intense and well-separated from other bands. This is quite often the case for mixed-valence triarylamines. As such, both Hush analysis and simulation of the intervalence band are widely used to classify these compounds as charge localized (class-II) or delocalized (class-III). Yet one must estimate the diabatic electron transfer distance (R) to calculate V in the Hush formalism. For mixed-valence triarylamines, R is commonly taken as the N-N distance; we show this to be a poor approximation in many cases. The activation barrier to thermal intramolecular electron transfer in a class-II mixed-valence compound is also related to the parameters V and L. Thus, if one can capture the rate of thermal electron transfer at multiple temperatures, then two experimental methods exist by which to extract the microscopic parameters. One technique that is widely used for organic mixed-valence compounds is variable-temperature electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy. But this method is only rarely used to determine thermal electron transfer rates in mixed-valence triarylamines, as the electron transfer in most of the class-II compounds with distinct intervalence bands is too fast to observe on the ESR timescale. We show, for the first time, that one can use ESR spectroscopy to measure thermal electron transfer rates in such compounds. Simulation of ESR spectra based on density functional theory calculation and comparison with optical data also uncover the nature (i.e., adiabatic or nonadiabatic) of the electron transfer process.

In this study, we describe a detailed investigation of cobalt complexes containing redox-active ligands. We have prepared an electronic series of the complex in three oxidation states: [CoIII(ap)2]-, CoIII(isq)(ap), and [CoIII(CH3CN)(isq)2]+. Characterization shows that the metal center remains cobalt(III) through the redox changes and indicates that the oxidation state changes occur with gain or loss of electrons from the ligand set. While CoIII(isq)(ap) reacts with halide radicals to form a new cobalt-halide bond in a single electron reaction, [CoIII(ap)2]- appears to be prone to multi-electron reactivity in reactions with sources of "Cl+". Both reactions occur with electrons derived from the ligand set. Mechanistic studies suggest a single, two electron step is responsible for the bond-formation. Similarly, [CoIII(ap)2]- reacts with alkyl halides to pseudo-oxidatively add the alkyl at the cobalt center. The product of the reaction can be isolated and fully characterized and was found to be best assigned as CoIII(alkyl)(isq)2. This assignment indicates that the reaction occurs, again, with the new bond formed with two electrons formally derived from the ligand set and with no change in oxidation state at the metal center. Mechanistic investigations of the pseudo-oxidative addition suggest the reaction is SN2-like. The reaction occurs with a wide scope of alkyl halides, including those containing beta-hydrogens. The cross-coupling reaction of CoIII(alkyl)(isq)2 with RZnX forms a new carbon-carbon bond. Similarly, the two electron oxidized complex [CoIII(CH3CN)(isq)2]+ reacts with organozinc reagents to couple two carbon nucleophiles and form a new carbon-carbon bond. Both reactions are successful with both sp2 and sp3 carbons. When followed substoichiometrically, the homocoupling reaction can be observed to form CoIII(alkyl)(isq)2. This indicates that the homocoupling and cross-coupling reactions proceed by the same mechanism. However, both reactions have low yields. The yield of the reactions are decreased by steric bulk of the alkyl or aryl fragments or around the metal center created by substituents on the ligand. Also, while the steric congestion disfavors the addition of the first alkyl fragment, the addition of the second alkyl fragment and subsequent rapid elimination of the coupling product is almost completely inhibited. This result also implies that the coupling of the two alkyl fragments is entirely inner-sphere requiring installation of both for coupling. In a complementary study, use of bidentate or tridentate stabilizing ligands in combination with one redox-active catechol-derived or amidophenol-derived ligand was investigated. With the synthesis of (triphos)CoII(cat) and the one electron oxidized [(triphos)CoII(sq)]+, it is evident that the oxidation occurs at the ligand and not the metal. Reaction of (triphos)CoII(cat) with a Cl+ reagent generated a new material which we tentatively describe as (triphos)CoIII(Cl)(sq). This implies that the two electrons used to create the new cobalt-halide bond are derived from both the ligand and the metal, one from each. We believe the complex is unreactive with organic halides due to the steric bulk surrounding the metal center. Similar cobalt complexes containing tridentate or bidentate phosphine ligands or a tridentate pyrazol ligand in combination with a catechol-derived or amidophenol-derived ligand resulted in unsuccessful synthesis or unstable complexes. Throughout the course of both of these studies, steric crowding at the metal center is a problem disfavoring the facilitated reactivity. We have however shown that the amidophenol ligands have favorable molecular orbital overlap with the cobalt to act as an electron reservoir and facilitate reactivity at the metal center. We have also shown that this combination can create a proclivity to facilitate multi-electron reactions at the metal that is naturally prone to radical reactions.

The pure organic dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were studied and a new organic dye of donor-π-2acceptors (D-π-2A configuration) was fabricated. This dye, denoted as B2, was investigated and applied in DSSCs. Density functional theory (DFT) was used to examine the electronic distribution of the frontier orbitals of the B2 dye. It was found that intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) between the donor moieties and acceptor moieties of the B2 dye may take place under photo irradiation. The LUMO, LUMO+1 and LUMO+2 of B2 are all distributed on the acceptor moieties and this is very helpful to enhance the intramolecular electron transfer from the donor moieties to the acceptor moieties, which will consequently promote the chance of electron injection into the semiconductor. DSSCs based on B2 demonstrated an power conversion efficiency of 3.62 %. This efficiency value is approximately half of the power conversion efficiency of DSSCs based on N719 (7.69 %) under the same conditions. Femtosecond transient absorption and nanosecond transient absorption (TA), and time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) technique were applied to examine the electron transfer processes occurring on the surface of B2/TiO2. B2 dye has life time of the excited states three orders in magnitude shorter than that of N719. The electron injection time from excited B2 to TiO2 is also three orders in magnitude shorter than that from excited N719 to TiO2. It was revealed that the delocalized electrons of π → π* transition for both the B2 dye and the N719 dye could be further guided into the semiconductor, while such injection processes may not happen for the localized electrons in π → π* transition of these dyes. The nanosecond transient absorption and transient emission spectroscopy of the ruthenium bipyridyl sensitizer N719 in different solvents were studied. Three kinds of ZnO nanoparticles were utilized to study the electron transfer process taking place on the interface of N719/ZnO with and without electrolyte by Time-Correlated Single Photon Counting (TCSPC) technique, TA and transient emission spectroscopy. Isopropanol was found to stabilize the singlet excited state of N719 and a related emission band centered at 460 nm was observed in nanosecond time scale. It was revealed that the electrolyte has a significant impact upon the electron transfer dynamics on the N719/ZnO interface. In the absence of electrolyte, the electron transfer process on the N719/ZnO interface is dependent upon the depth of defects in ZnO nanoparticles. Conversely, in the presence of electrolyte, the impact of ZnO defects upon the electron transfer process is eliminated and the effective electron injection happens from the excited states of N719 to ZnO, in spite of the ZnO particle sizes. The polymer based solar cells were studied and a polymer incorporated with a pyrenylcarbazole pendant was synthesized and applied in the functionalization of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) by noncovalent π-π interaction. The polymer/MWCNT hybrids were isolated and examined. The strong interaction between the polymer and MWCNT in a 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane (TCE) solution was investigated. The emission spectra demonstrated an effective quenching of emission from the polymer by the MWCNT. DFT calculations showed an electron delocalization phenomenon between the pyrene and carbazole moieties. The LUMO of the polymer is mainly located on the pyrene moiety while the LUMO+1 of the polymer is predominantly positioned on the carbazole moiety. The electronic transition of LUMO+1→LUMO results in intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) from the carbazole moieties to the pyrene moieties. Femtosecond TA determined the characteristic TA feature of the excited states, which are contributed from both the pyrene and carbazole moieties. The excited state lifetime of the polymer was calculated to be 659 ps and the photo excited electrons can inject into the MWCNT very fast on a time scale of 420 fs. / published_or_final_version / Chemistry / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Chemistry / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Previous research has underscored the importance of protein dynamics during light-induced electron transfer; however, specific interactions have not been well characterized. It is of particular importance to understand the role of protein dynamics and cofactor interactions in controlling electron transfer in oxygenic photosynthesis. These factors include hydrogen bonding, ð-stacking and electrostatic interactions. Reaction-induced FT-IR spectroscopy is sensitive to these interactions as well as isotopic incorporation, and is useful to probe protein dynamics associated with light-induced electron transfer in Photosystem I (PSI). Density functional theory (DFT) provides information concerning the vibrational frequencies of molecules as well as the amplitudes of the vibrations and sensitivity to isotope incorporation. Combining these approaches, protein dynamics associated with light-induced electron transfer in PSI were studied. The work presented here describes specific protein cofactor interactions and specific protein relaxation events associated with light-induced electron transfer. The results reported here are consistent with noncovalent protein cofactor interactions that modulate the redox potential of the secondary electron acceptor of PSI. Furthermore, the studies presented here describe novel protein dynamics associated with the oxidation of the terminal electron donor of PSI. These results characterize specific protein dynamics that may be associated with interactions of the soluble electron donors. These studies highlight the importance of protein dynamics in oxygenic photosynthesis.

To better understand the optical and electronic properties of thiophene- and pyrrole-based organic compounds on a molecular level, several aromatic compounds and their corresponding monocations were analyzed by a variety of solution-based spectroscopic techniques. The derivatives were initially synthesized using palladium-catalyzed amination reactions, condensation reactions, Horner-Emmons reactions, and Stille coupling reactions. Once isolated, the neutral compounds were analyzed by UV-visible-NIR absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and / or differential pulse voltammetry. Monocations were generated by chemical oxidation and were analyzed by visible-NIR absorption spectroscopy and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy. By quantifying the extent of the electron-donor abilities of some chromophores and the electron delocalization of positive charge in the monocations, a more thorough understanding of the optical and electronic properties of the compounds was obtained.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of New South Wales, 2000. / Includes bibliographic references. Also available online.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Baylor University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 199-203)