Photoreduction and light-induced triplet-state formation in a single-site fluoroalkylated zinc phthalocyanine.
Electron-withdrawing perfluoroalkyl peripheral substituents enhance the photosensitizing properties of metal phthalocyanines while increasing their solubility, thus providing opportunities for advanced characterization of their catalytically-relevant excited states. Optical absorption and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy experiments reveal that red light induces the reduction of perfluoroisopropyl-substituted zinc(ii) phthalocyanine (F64PcZn) dissolved in ethanol. A similar photoreduction does not occur in toluene. Furthermore, intense UV irradiation causes the photodegradation of F64PcZn in ethanol, but low power UV illumination favours the formation of the triplet excited state, a prerequisite for new photocatalytic applications. The UV-induced triplet state of F64PcZn is characterized using a combination of transient EPR experiments and DFT computations.
University of Antwerp, Department of Physics, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Antwerp, Belgium. sabine.vandoorslaer@ua.ac.be.
Hans
H
Moons
Andrei
A
Loas
Sergiu M
SM
Gorun
Sabine
S
Van Doorslaer