Solvent-Controlled Branching of Localized versus Delocalized Singlet Exciton States and Equilibration with Charge Transfer in a Structurally Well-Defined Tetracene Dimer

A detailed photophysical picture is elaborated for a structurally well-defined and symmetrical bis-tetracene dimer in solution. The molecule was designed for interrogation of the initial photophysical steps (S 1 → 1 TT) in intramolecular singlet fission (SF). (Triisopropylsilyl)acetylene substituents on the dimer TIPS-BT1 as well as a monomer model TIPS-Tc enable a comparison of photophysical properties, including transient absorption dynamics, as solvent polarity is varied. In nonpolar toluene solutions, TIPS-BT1 decays via radiative and nonradiative pathways to the ground state with no evidence for dynamics related to the initial stages of SF. This contrasts with the behavior of the previously reported unsubstituted dimer BT1 and is likely a consequence of energetic perturbations to the singlet excited-state manifold of TIPS-BT1 by the (trialkylsilyl)acetylene substituents. In polar benzonitrile, two key findings emerge. First, photoexcited TIPS-BT1 shows a bifurcation into both arm-localized (S 1-loc ) and dimer-delocalized (S 1-dim ) singlet exciton states. The S 1-loc decays to the ground state, and weak temperature dependence of its emissive signatures suggests that once it is formed, it is isolated from S 1-dim . Emissive signatures of the S 1-dim state, on the other hand, are strongly temperature-dependent, and transient absorption dynamics show that S 1-dim equilibrates with an intramolecular charge-transfer state in 50 ps at room temperature. This equilibrium decays to the ground state with little evidence for formation of long-lived triplets nor 1 TT. These detailed studies spectrally characterize many of the key states in intramolecular SF in this class of dimers but highlight the need to tune electronic coupling and energetics for the S 1 → 1 TT photoreaction.