Open AccessTwo-Photon Absorbing Phosphorescent Metalloporphyrins: Effects of π-Extension and Peripheral Substitution
Author(s) -
Tatiana V. Esipova,
Héctor J. Rivera-Jacquez,
Bruno Weber,
Artëm E. Masunov,
Sergei A. Vinogradov
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of the american chemical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.115
H-Index - 612
eISSN - 1520-5126
pISSN - 0002-7863
DOI - 10.1021/jacs.6b09157
Subject(s) - chemistry , phosphorescence , porphyrin , photochemistry , time dependent density functional theory , two photon absorption , absorption (acoustics) , microsecond , density functional theory , fluorescence , computational chemistry , laser , physics , optics , quantum mechanics , astronomy , acoustics
The ability to form triplet excited states upon two-photon excitation is important for several applications of metalloporphyrins, including two-photon phosphorescence lifetime microscopy (2PLM) and two-photon photodynamic therapy (PDT). Here we analyzed one-photon (1P) and degenerate two-photon (2P) absorption properties of several phosphorescent Pt (II) porphyrins, focusing on the effects of aromatic π-extension and peripheral substitution on triplet emissivity and two-photon absorption (2PA). Our 2PA measurements for the first time made use of direct time-resolved detection of phosphorescence, having the ability to efficiently reject laser background through microsecond time gating. π-Extension of the porphyrin macrocycle by way of syn-fusion with two external aromatic fragments, such as in syn-dibenzo- (DBP) and syn-dinaphthoporphyrins (DNP), lowers the symmetry of the porphyrin skeleton. As a result, DBPs and DNPs exhibit stronger 2PA into the one-photon-allowed B (Soret) and Q states than fully symmetric (D 4h ) nonextended porphyrins. However, much more 2P-active states lie above the B state and cannot be accessed due to the interfering linear absorption. Alkoxycarbonyl groups (CO 2 R) in the benzo-rings dramatically enhance 2PA near the B state level. Time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) calculations in combinations with the sum-over-states (SOS) formalism revealed that the enhancement is due to the stabilization of higher-lying 2P-active states, which are dominated by the excitations involving orbitals extending onto the carbonyl groups. Furthermore, calculations predicted even stronger stabilization of the 2P-allowed gerade-states in symmetric Pt octaalkoxycarbonyl-tetrabenzoporphyrins. Experiments confirmed that the 2PA cross-section of PtTBP(CO 2 Bu) 8 near 810 nm reaches above 500 GM in spite of its completely centrosymmetric structure. Combined with exceptionally bright phosphorescence (ϕ phos = 0.45), strong 2PA makes Pt(II) complexes of π-extended porphyrins a valuable class of chromophores for 2P applications. Another important advantage of these porphyrinoids is their compact size and easily scalable synthesis.